Fred Jackson Released From Bills

The writing appeared to be on the wall for veteran Fred Jackson when the Buffalo Bills traded for Philadelphia Eagles’ star running back LeSean McCoy.

There was more wall graffiti when the team spent a fifth-round pick on former Florida State running back Karlos Williams.

That writing gained clarity in the form of a pink slip as Jackson was released from the Bills Monday morning.

“Today, we had to make the difficult decision to release Fred Jackson,” Bills general manager Doug Whaley said in a statement.  “He had an incredible career for this organization for the past 10 years.  We thank Fred for his hard work, dedication and leadership during his tenure with the Buffalo Bills.  Fred has inspired the city of Buffalo in a number of ways.  Fred and his family have been dedicated to this community and we can’t thank them enough for their contributions through his career.”

Jackson is one of the league’s great stories as he came from virtually nowhere (Coe College) to a certain level of stardom.  In eight seasons on the Bills roster, Jackson gained 5,646 yards, averaging 4.4 yards per carry, with 30 touchdowns.

There should be somewhat of a market for Jackson, possibly in Dallas or Cleveland, despite him turning 34 years old in February.

Jaguars Trade Josh Scobee To Steelers

The Jaguars have reportedly traded kicker Josh Scobee to the kicking needy Pittsburgh Steelers.

The #Jaguars are trading longtime kicker Josh Scobee to the #Steelers. He’s been their kicker since 2004. Pitt had a K injury.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 31, 2015

Scobee confirmed the news to 1010XL radio earlier this morning.

Although he was “just a kicker,” Scobee was one of the faces of the franchise throughout his 11 years in Jacksonville and made several big kicks for the team including a 59-yard boot to beat the Indianapolis Colts in 2011.

With Scobee’s departure, the kicking job now belongs to Jason Myers, who has displayed one of the strongest legs in the NFL preseason.  Myers kickoffs have sailed through the end zones and he’s connected on four of his five field goal attempts in the preseason, including a 55-yard effort in the team’s Week 2 loss to the Giants.

The move comes as somewhat of a surprise as teams usually aren’t willing to go young at the kicker position, due to all the pressure involved.

At this point, compensation for the deal is unknown.

The Steelers are getting a veteran kicker who does his best work in pressure situations.  They are also getting a player with a $3.425 million salary in 2015, which was likely a catalyst for the move.

Pittsburgh lost kicker Shaun Suisham to a torn ACL in the preseason opener and then lost replacement Garrett Hartley during last weekend’s game.  Scobee will be the strongest-legged kicker the franchise has ever had.

Bucs Trade TE Tim Wright, Again

From Bucs PR Dept.-

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced today that they have traded tight end Tim Wright to the Detroit Lions in exchange for kicker Kyle Brindza (pronounced BRIND-zuh).

Brindza (6-0, 239) is a rookie out of Notre Dame, who entered the NFL with Detroit this offseason. During the preseason, Brindza has made all three of his field goal attempts.

A native of Canton, Michigan, Brindza finished his collegiate career as Notre Dame’s career leader in field goals made (57) and ranked third on the school’s all-time scoring list with 288 points, second among kickers. Brindza will wear No. 2 for Tampa Bay.

Wright, who originally entered the NFL in 2013 as a college free agent with Tampa Bay, re-joined the team this offseason after being waived by New England.

Our take: The Buccaneers trade a pretty decent tight end for someone that would have been cut next week.  Tampa has never really utilized the tight end position in the passing game so obviously Wright wasn’t going to be in their plans, especially if his presence caused issues for former draft pick Austin Seferian-Jenkins.  

Brindza will attempt to win the kicking job from Connor Barth and Patrick Murray. 

Detroit already has Eric Ebron, Brandon Pettigrew and Joseph Fauria who can all catch the football.  They will basically get a free audition of Wright for one game to see if he should be on the roster and if he is, it will likely come at the expense of Fauria.