Morrissey, 23, was a seventh-round pick by the Raiders in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Pittsburgh. He signed to a four-year, $3.6 million rookie contract but was among their final roster cuts coming out of the preseason and re-signed to Las Vegas’ practice squad. 

During his college career, Morrissey appeared in 47 games with 46 at center and one at right guard. He earned third-team All-ACC honors in 2018, first-team honors in 2019, and second-team in 2020. 

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The full list includes:

1. CB Darqueze Dennard
2. OL D.J. Fluker
3. CB D.J. Hayden
4.  DL Chris Slayton.

Dennard, 30, was taken with the No. 24 overall pick by the Bengals back in 2014. He played out the final year of his four-year, $7.978 million contract before the Bengals picked up his fifth-year option for the 2018 season. 

Dennard made $8,526,000 million in 2018 before returning to the Bengals on a one-year, $4.5 million contract in 2019. After a deal with the Jaguars fell through, Dennard signed a one-year deal with the Falcons for 2020.

The Cardinals signed Dennard to a contract in June before releasing him early into the 2021 season. He also recently worked out for the Colts.

In 2020, Dennard appeared in eight games for the Falcons and recorded 36 total tackles, one interception and five pass defenses. 

Hayden, 30, was taken by the Raiders with the No. 12 overall pick back in 2013. He played out the final year of his rookie contract, but the Raiders declined to pick up his fifth-year option. 

Hayden later signed a one-year deal worth up to $5.25 million with the Lions in 2017 before agreeing to a three-year, $19 million contract with $9.5 million guaranteed the following year. 

After playing out his contract with Jacksonville, Hayden became a free agent in March.

In 2020, Hayden appeared in five games for the Jaguars and recorded 18 tackles, no sacks or interceptions and one pass defended.

Both players are included in our Top 100 Available 2021 Free Agents list.

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The 49ers have had a mixed bag when it’s come to draft picks under GM John Lynch and HC Kyle Shanahan. On one hand, they’ve gotten a ton of value from guys like DE Nick Bosa, TE George Kittle and LB Fred Warner, stars on the team who are all homegrown. On the other, there are bad misses like DE Solomon Thomas, WR Dante Pettis and CB Ahkello Witherspoon, plus recent guys like DT Javon Kinlaw, WR Brandon Aiyuk and RB Trey Sermon who haven’t necessarily hit the ground running.

Lynch said comparing their hits and misses to see what went wrong is an important part of their process. 

“That’s something that we feel is very important,” Lynch said via NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco. “You have to study yourself. You have to study the league and say, ‘OK, this worked. Why? This didn’t work. Why?’”

Lynch said they have picked up on a common thread with their misses but didn’t want to share too much for competitive reasons. He did say that after gambling on injured players in their first few drafts, he and Shanahan have backed off that after being burned. 

“Early on in my and Kyle’s tenure, we probably tried to gain value out of a guy who’d been hurt,” Lynch said. “You find out that hurt guys stay hurt. You try to adjust some things and I think we’ve done that, and hopefully that’ll start to pay dividends.”

Cardinals

With Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury out on Sunday against the Browns due to COVID-19, Arizona turned to assistant WR coach Spencer Whipple as the play-caller. Whipple was the voice on the headset relaying calls to QB Kyler Murray, and while OL coach/run-game coordinator Sean Kugler was responsible for run plays, Whipple had the wheel for pass plays. It’s a setup that doesn’t seem like it should have run as smoothly as it did, as the Cardinals put up 37 points on a Browns defense that’s not a pushover. 

“Kliff put me at ease,” Whipple said via NBC Sports’ Peter King. “When he told me what was going on, he just got right into it, instead of talking about how different it would be or how hard it would be. So I never really thought of the magnitude of it.”

Cardinals DC Vance Joseph, who took on some of Kingsbury’s big-picture head coaching duties given his experience as a former head coach, explained why Whipple made sense as the next one up at playcaller. 

“He’s been with the passing game the longest in the room,” Joseph said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “He spends his time obviously with Kliff and the receivers and the quarterbacks, and he’s been here the longest. His background was in this offense, and again, he wasn’t calling it by himself. But as far as terminology, as far as what the formations should look like with the quarterback, it was natural for him to do it because he spends the most time with Kliff.”

Rams

Rams HC Sean McVay said he would’ve handled QB Jared Goff‘s situation differently given the chance.

“Yes, I wish there was better, clearer communication,” McVay said, via Lindsey Thiry. “To say that it was perfectly handled on my end, I wouldn’t be totally accurate in that. I’ll never claim to be perfect, but I will try to learn from some things that I can do better, and I think that was one of them without a doubt.”

“You don’t want to catch guys off guard,” McVay continued. “It came together a lot faster than anybody anticipated, but yeah, of course I think that any time that tough decisions and things like that where people are affected, you always want to be as understanding, as empathetic as possible, think about it through the other person’s lens and there’s certainly things that I know I would do it a little bit differently if — when those situations arise in the future.”

McVay is adamant that the trade that sent Goff to the Lions had nothing to do with their relationship, and everything to do with acquiring someone of QB Matthew Stafford‘s caliber.

“That was why that decision was made and that was why things came together as quickly as they did because we felt like it was a rare opportunity to acquire a player of Matthew’s caliber,” McVay said. “Those opportunities just don’t come up often.”

McVay also expects Stafford to treat the Rams’ upcoming game against the Lions just like he would any other game.

“He’s so impressive in terms of his weekly rhythm and his consistency through these first six weeks,” McVay said. “He’s so steady and even-keeled, I don’t think he’ll make it bigger than what it is.”

Seahawks

• Seahawks HC Pete Carroll said that RB Alex Collins didn’t suffer a significant hip injury at the end of Sunday night’s game against the Steelers, but they’ll need a few more days to evaluate his status. RB Rashaad Penny is also eligible to come off of injured reserve this week. (Field Yates)
• Carroll spoke with free-agent QB Cam Newton “a couple times,” though nothing came of it. Seattle is all-in on QB Geno Smith, and Newton likely wouldn’t have had a chance to compete with him. (Michael-Shawn Dugar)
• The Seahawks will keep tabs on Newton but for now they plan to stick with Smith with QB Russell Wilson just a few weeks from returning. (Tom Pelissero)
• Carroll notes that they got a “really, really positive report” on DE Darrell Taylor. Carroll said “he does not have a neck injury” and could play this week. (Curtis Crabtree)

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Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater didn’t do a great job at taking care of the ball during Sunday’s loss to the Raiders. HC Vic Fangio blamed game-script and falling behind as key reason’s why the Broncos turned the ball over.

“Teddy hasn’t been a turnover guy,” Fangio said, via Denver Post. “Part of that is when you’re falling behind and you’re throwing it a lot. That’s the risk you run. Once you become an unbalanced offense, the chance of throwing interceptions goes up. They went up in this game.” 

Bridgewater admits that he could’ve done a better job with ball security and keeping his team in a position to win the game.

“When you win, you point the finger at your teammates and when you lose, you point the thumb at yourself,” Bridgewater said. “Today was definitely one of those days where I point the thumb at myself. I take responsibility for the things that went wrong, whether it was the turnovers or being better in many (other) areas.”

• Fangio expects Bridgewater to play on Thursday despite a foot injury that would have had him limited in practice. (Ryan O’Halloran)
• The Broncos brought in free-agent LB Pita Taumoepenu for a visit. Denver ended up signing him to the practice squad. (Aaron Wilson)

Chargers

• Chargers HC Brandon Staley said that the team is keeping it’s options open during the upcoming trade deadline. “We want to make sure that we’re exploring an avenue if there is one. And if there isn’t, that’s OK, too.” (Daniel Popper)

Chiefs

One of the changes the Chiefs made heading into Week 6 against Washington was replacing RT Lucas Niang with veteran Mike Remmers. Niang had a hamstring injury which contributed to the decision. Remmers has been exposed in the past but he held his own on Sunday. 

“I thought he did a good job,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said via Arrowhead Pride’s Pete Sweeney. “He was solid in there. I thought he really held his own. That defensive line, I have a lot of respect for — there’s a lot of first-round picks on that defensive line. I thought for his first outing, he did a real nice job.”

Reid talked last week about expanding WR Josh Gordon‘s role, but the receiver saw his snaps increase from nine to just 11 in his second game in Kansas City. 

“Yeah, it just didn’t work out that way, but we’ll keep bringing him along,” said Reid. “I think he’s just starting to get comfortable with this whole thing. We had him in for a couple few plays. I don’t know what it totaled out, but he’ll be fine. We just keep working through everything.”

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The Bears didn’t beat the Packers on Sunday, falling 24-14 and seeing their record drop to 3-3. But the coaching staff left the game with a lot of positives about the progression of first-round QB Justin Fields since his disastrous first start. 

“(Fields is) one of the best I’ve coached at accepting positive criticism, if that makes any sense, learning experiences,” Bears QB coach John DeFilippo said via the Athletic’s Adam Jahns. “And we’ll be better next week. That’s our goal every week. Better tomorrow. Be better next week. Be better two weeks from now. And I thought we were better. There were some plays (Sunday against the Packers) that I’m sure he thinks he should have made. We should have made for him. But there were a lot of positive plays for him in that game.”

• NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reports the Bears worked out LS Mitch Fraboni.

Lions

• Lions HC Dan Campbell said OT Taylor Decker isn’t ready to return yet: “Until he mentally feels like it’s something he can do, something that he feels comfortable with, that he knows he can perform and play at a high level, then it’s not worth it. … We’ll see where it goes” (Dave Birkett)

Packers

• The Packers worked out LB Aaron Adeoye, DL Auzoyah Alufohai and TE Nick Eubanks. Adeoye was signed to the practice squad. (Aaron Wilson)

Vikings

• Vikings GM Rick Spielman said he expects CB Patrick Peterson to be healthy by the time they play the Packers in Week 11. (Arif Hasan)
• Spielman stood by K Greg Joseph despite the miss in Sunday’s game: “He’s a very talented guy with a strong leg.” (Hasan)
• Spielman mentioned QB Kirk Cousins‘ contract isn’t a concern right now and something they’ve already done some planning for: “We already looked at that 2 years ago. We already looked at that this offseason. … We do have some challenges coming up next year. We thought we had some challenges this year, but we were able to fill a lot of holes.” (Ben Goessling)
• Spielman added he doesn’t know how much they will add at the trade deadline: “We’ll monitor everything like we always do … It’s not — I don’t want to call it like a fantasy football thing. You have cap ramifications; how do contracts fit, and how does that affect your cap?” (Goessling)
• Spielman said he doesn’t regret signing Peterson despite his injury and he believes in CB Cameron Dantzler: “Peterson, he’s never been hurt his entire career. But that’s why we kept six corners. Dantzler’s going to get his opportunity to step up and play again.”  (Goessling)
• Spielman didn’t want to address his future and if he’s on the hot seat this season: “I’m not going to talk about any of the conversations between me and the Wilf family. That’s between me and the Wilfs. But no, I have no concerns.” (Goessling)

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• Free-agent CB Kevin Toliver is set to visit the Colts. (Aaron Wilson)
• Colts elevated K Michael Badgley to their active roster. 
• Colts activated QB Sam Ehlinger from injured reserve.
• Colts placed WR Parris Campbell on injured reserve.
• Colts waived QB Jacob Eason and DT Chris Williams. (NFLTR)
• Colts placed S Jordan Lucas and CB Marvell Tell III on the practice squad injured list. 

Jaguars

• Jaguars HC Urban Meyer said K Matthew Wright will be the permanent kicker moving forward. (John Reid)
• Wright won the job with two 50-yard-plus field goals on Sunday and the team cut veteran Josh Lambo on Tuesday.
• Meyer admitted that his team “needed a win” after Sunday’s victory over the Dolphins: “It was a great team win. We need a win. Someone asked me last week if we’re desperate for a win … we are desperate for a win.” (John Oehser)
• Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence called the victory “special” and one that “he’ll always remember: “It’s special. We’ve had a rough start to the year. To get this win, have this moment going into the bye week, to do it here in London, it’s all just special. I’ll always remember this one.” (Oehser)

Texans

• The Athletic’s Aaron Reiss points out Texans S Eric Murray and LB Zach Cunningham have also seen their roles dramatically reduced on defense. Murray hasn’t played on defense the past three weeks and Cunningham is just a situational player with 14 snaps in Week 6. 
• As Houston clearly shifts more toward younger players away from veterans, those two are candidates to be cut or traded. 
• Reiss also thinks the Texans could move on from a veteran running back like Phillip Lindsay, David Johnson, Rex Burkhead or Mark Ingram to give Scottie Phillips, a second-year UDFA, a look. However, he notes the team still appears to see Ingram as a valuable leadership presence. 
• While it would make sense to keep third-round QB Davis Mills as the starter to evaluate, Texans HC David Culley has already said veteran QB Tyrod Taylor won’t lose the starting job due to injury, per Reiss. 
• According to Aaron Wilson, Texans WR/KR Andre Roberts had been dealing with a knee issue since the preseason, which factored into his release. 
• Former Texans DE Whitney Mercilus acknowledged it was difficult to be cut, but the Texans wanted to go younger as part of their rebuild. (Wilson)
• The Texans worked out OL Harry Crider and OL Earl Watford. (Wilson)

Titans

Titans HC Mike Vrabel said the team will continue to lean on RB Derrick Henry.

“We continue to jump on Derrick’s back,” Vrabel said, via Gentry Estes. “And he’s willing and able to carry us. It’s something that you know that you have in your back pocket, front pocket. We pull it out, and we use it.”

• Vrabel mentioned OT Taylor Lewan has a concussion: “All signs are leaning towards him being in concussion protocol. He’s doing as well as he can right now.” (Turron Davenport)
• Vrabel added he hated to see first-round CB Caleb Farley get injured: “It’s unfortunate when any of them get injured. We know Caleb’s history. He was very emotional, but I told him rest assured we’re going to take care of him physically and mentally.” (Terry McCormick)

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Mabin, 27, wound up going undrafted out of Iowa back in 2017. He later signed on with the Buccaneers but was cut loose a few days later.

From there, Mabin has had brief stints with the Bills, 49ers, Bengals, Titans, and Jaguars before returning to the Titans this past May but was cut loose in August during training camp.

He caught on with the Cardinals’ practice squad earlier this month. 

In 2020, Mabin appeared in five games for the Jaguars and recorded 21 tackles, no interceptions, and three passes defended.

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The last time Bengals sixth-round RB Chris Evans was at Ford Field, he was working as a volunteer with the NFL’s Crucial Catch program, unsure if he would ever play football again. But the former Michigan back’s long, winding journey brought him back to Ford Field where he scored his first NFL touchdown on a highlight-reel deep catch and a shoutout from QB Joe Burrow.

“I want to mention Chris Evans,” Burrow said via The Athletic. “He’s just getting better and better every single week. You see what he can do in the pass game. He got one on one and really, really ran a great route and scored a touchdown for us. And then on the big throw to Ja’Marr in the second half, he picked up a safety pressure off the edge that was really unbelievable.”

Bengals OC Brian Callahan said that the team placed an emphasis on Evans improving in pass protection leading into the season.

“It’s the recognition and understanding of who’s coming. When are they coming? Where are they coming?” Callahan said. “And then there’s the eye discipline of, ‘OK, if my guy doesn’t come, when do I have to go scan? When do I have to give up space? What are all these looks? How do I understand what’s coming? What tells me that? There’s a whole bunch of things that only come from experience and watching tape that you can only gain from seeing and doing it over time.”

Browns

• ESPN’s Jake Trotter reports the Browns do not believe QB Baker Mayfield‘s shoulder injury is season-ending. 
• The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reports Mayfield’s injury is a torn labrun in his left shoulder and playing is about pain management.
• Mayfield said his injury is worse now than it was before Sunday’s game. He also added his labrum was completely torn in Week 2, not partially. (Nate Ulrich)
• Mayfield mentioned he is the final decision on whether he plays: “It’s my decision. I get to say whether I play or not and that’s just how it is.” (92.3 The Fan)
• Browns HC Kevin Stefanski said Mayfield was limited at practice Tuesday. (Ulrich)
• Stefanski added although OTs Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin aren’t practicing, they haven’t been ruled out for Thursday yet. (Ulrich)

Ravens

The insertion of Ravens LB Josh Bynes into the lineup doesn’t seem like it would be a huge deal on face value. The veteran journeyman has bounced around several teams and is now in his third stint in Baltimore. But that experience, especially in the Ravens’ system, helped settle everyone down and keyed Baltimore’s best defensive performance of the season in a 34-6 win against the red-hot Chargers. 

“It just settled everybody into a good place where they could take a deep breath and just play football,” Ravens HC John Harbaugh said via the Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec. “The tackling was better. The assignments were better. The fits were better. Everything was just more settled down.”

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Last year, Buccaneers TE O.J. Howard was starting to build some momentum before a torn Achilles cut his season short. It’s taken some time, but Howard appears to be building momentum again. The absence of Rob Gronkowski has given him an opportunity and he had a great game Thursday night against the Eagles with six catches for 49 yards and a touchdown. 

“He was just scratching the surface,” Buccaneers HC Bruce Arians said via the Athletic’s Greg Auman. “I mean, he was really coming on like gangbusters last year, and then he got hurt. And that’s a hard injury to get over. It’s a 12-month job. He’s doing a heck of a job right now.”

• Buccaneers HC Bruce Arians said while S Antoine Winfield remains in concussion protocol, he may still return this week. (Auman)

Panthers

Panthers HC Matt Rhule promised that the team would have a “vastly different look” offensively, particularly speaking, he wants OC Joe Brady to focus on establishing the run.

“We’re not gonna line up and drop back and throw it 40 times a game and think that’s gonna win the game for us. It hasn’t,” Rhule said.

The team is down star RB Christian McCaffrey, however, RB Chuba Hubbard has filled in admirably, while displaying his versatility out of the backfield.

“(Critics will say), ‘There’s no McCaffrey.’ Well, Chuba (Hubbard) is showing us he can run the football at a high level when given enough opportunities,” Rhule added. “So we’re gonna redefine who we are. And we’re gonna run the football. And we’re gonna protect our quarterback, and we’re not gonna turn the ball over anymore. That’s the only way that we’re gonna win.”

The Panthers brought QB Sam Darnold in and feature a solid trio of wide-receivers, but Rhule doesn’t feel that the team’s identity is through the air.

“I just know this: If you run it 24 (times) — and some of that is quarterbacks running on dropbacks — if you call 16, 18, 19, 24, 25 runs, you better have an elite passing game. And right now, that’s not our strength. We’re not going to turn it over and all of a sudden be a running team that’s gonna line up and run the ball down your throat. That’s not really who we are, either. We just have to have a little bit more of a blend of running the ball and throwing the football.”

Rhule balanced his words with some praise for Brady, calling him one of the better young coaches in the game today, but added the team needed to find some consistency offensively and that falls on the coaching staff. 

“Joe’s a great, great, great young coach, great coordinator. We played well at times offensively. We’ve just gotta be more consistent,” Rhule said. “That’s gonna happen this week. It has to happen this week. And if it doesn’t happen this week, then next week I’ll come in and say, ‘Hey, I’ve gotta do this better,’ and we’ll try to get it done next week.”

• Panthers worked out LS Turner Bernard and P Drue Chrisman. (Aaron Wilson)

Saints

Saints DB coach Kris Richard offered some praise for CB Marshon Lattimore and his focus.

“It’s a testament to his preparation and essentially his love for the game,” Richard said, via ESPN’s Mike Triplett. “He goes out there, he’s got a lot of faith in who he is as a player and his ability. And he loves ball. So it’s not a surprise.”

Saints DC Dennis Allen added Lattimore has impressed because of everything they ask him to do.

“Look, I honestly feel like cornerback is the hardest position to play in the National Football League,” Allen said. “And when you have talented people like [Lattimore], it does allow you a little more flexibility in what you can do and how you can play the other guys.

“There are a lot of times where he is on their best guy and is by himself. That is certainly one of those things where we feel like we have the advantage in that matchup, regardless of who he’s going up against. It allows us to utilize the other 10 guys on the field to do a lot of different stuff.”

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The full list includes:

1. DB Delrick Abrams
2. DB Delano Hill
3. DB Doug Middleton
4. DB Buster Skrine
5. DB Keith Washington

Skrine, 32, is a former fifth-round pick by the Browns in the 2011 NFL Draft. He finished his four-year rookie contract with Cleveland and signed a four-year deal with the Jets in 2015. He finished his deal with New York and was entering the open market for the second time in his career. 

Skrine signed a three-year, $16.5 million contract with the Bears back in 2019 and had one year left on the deal when Chicago released him back in March.

The 49ers signed him to a contract earlier this season but released him last week.

In 2021, Skrine appeared in one game for San Francisco without recording a stat. Last year, Skrine played in 12 games for the Bears, recording 66 tackles and three passes defended.

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