Roster moves: Undrafted Free Agent Signings

May 2, 2018

by Steve Thomas

The Washington Redskins announced their undrafted free agent signings today:

PLAYER                                POS.                  HT.                 WT.                  COLLEGE

Quin Blanding                       S                      6-2                   207                  Virginia

Martez Carter                        RB                   5-7                   193                  Grambling State

Simmie Cobbs Jr.                  WR                  6-3                   220                  Indiana

Jerod Fernandez                    LB                   6-0                   227                  NC State

Shay Fields                             WR                5-11                 185                  Colorado

Matt Flanagan                       TE                   6-6                   260                  Pittsburgh

Mikah Holder                        WR                  6-0                   185                  San Diego State

Danny Johnson                     CB                   5-9                   181                  Southern

Timon Parris                          T                      6-6                   312                  Stony Brook

De’Mornay Pierson-El          WR                  5-9                   190                  Nebraska

Cam Sims                              WR                  6-5                   214                  Alabama

Ranthony Texada                  CB                   5-10                 170                  TCU

Elijah Wellman                      FB                   6-2                   241                  West Virginia

 

In addition, the Redskins agreed to terms with the following college free agent:

PLAYER                               POS.               HT.                 WT.                COLLEGE

Sean Welsh                             C                     6-3                   306             Iowa

 

We’ll have much more on these players here soon.

428 comments

  • noonefromtampa

    I guess it’s official — latest headlines

    Jason Witten leaving Cowboys, joining ESPN

  • noonefromtampa

    So the U.S. high school student accused of cultural appropriation for her Chinese-style prom dress is receiving support online from some of the very people her critics say she offended.

    People across China are coming to her defense, saying the like her appreciation of Chinese culture and hopes it promotes better relations between the two countries.

    also one commentor said

    “If the white devils cannot wear Chinese outfits, they’d better not eat Chinese food anymore either.”

    • I saw that yesterday. That kid rocked that look. That’s what pissed off the whiny shits.

    • Personally I don’t believe in all this condemning of cultural appropriation.
      Because for all of history, good cultures have taken the best things they find in other cultures and make it part of their own zeitgeist.
      For example did you know that the Mexican’s stole the whole concept of tacos from middle eastern sea merchants.

      • and they’ve taken on some of the American “adjustments” to their food for their own cuisine?

      • walter_in_fallschurch

        totally agree. “cultural appropriation” is something someone wanting to be offended made up.

        • To be clear, they didn’t make up cultural appropriation, they just made up the offensive part.

          • walter_in_fallschurch

            i think the word “appropriation” implies “stealing” or “confiscation” or some other sort of negative connotation.

        • noonefromtampa

          the Catholic Church culturally appropriated Christmas trees from the German Pagans

      • Macedon appropriated Thebian tactics, that’s how Phillip (and then, Alexander) were able to do what they did

        A lot of the “West” started with the Persians, who just basically looked at the Assyrians and said, “let’s do the opposite of what they do” and is that then Reverse appropriation?

        • And literally everything that made Rome great was an idea they stole from someone else.
          Well, not really stolen, they basically just had immigrants come in and tell them how to build aqueducts and that stuff.

          • noonefromtampa

            Rome stole from the Greeks
            — Gods
            — Army tactics
            — Dress
            — Government organization
            — Education

          • Yes but they stole stuff from the Egyptians, the Persians, the Jews. Basically if a Roman found a new group they would take something from them.

          • the Roman greatness came from what today we call Logistics

      • I don’t even know what cultural appropriation is.

        We’re born to emulate for fuck sake.

        Where do people come up with this crap?

        • They yearn to control natural law with euphoric academia, which is obviously a cult.

        • people have to rationalize a lot of modern egalitarian beliefs because they’re not true

          there are winners and there are losers

          people have a problem accepting reality. you can (and I often do) not like or particularly wish certain things are not true or are, or must accept there are incompatible “truths”, and accept those consequences, or you just lash out like a child on twitter proclaiming nonsensical paradoxes and the like.

    • I guess people really aren’t for a global society

    • This is the dumbest story imaginable. It’s incomprehensibly stupid to criticize some high school girl for her choice of prom dress. Idiots.

      And cultural appropriation is a freaking stupid concept. Nobody holds a patent on clothing or hair styles. Get over yourselves.

  • walter_in_fallschurch

    mike5790 noonefromtampa • 38 minutes ago
    breakfast joints are always a problem…
    ——————–

    well…. that depends on what you’ve got going on the rest of the day.

  • noonefromtampa

    Authorities made a gruesome discovery early Thursday when they found remains in a structure burned following an explosion that capped an hours-long attempt by officers to coax a barricaded man from the North Haven, CT property.

    A woman, who sources say was held hostage for several days but had escaped, contacted North Haven police about 2:30 p.m., bringing authorities to her Quinnipiac Avenue home. Officers spent several hours trying to get the woman’s estranged husband out, but as the standoff progressed, a barn on the property exploded, touching off a massive fire.

    Nine officers were hurt in the explosion.

  • Back to the good ol daysBruce

    Geesh. Cheerleader story is everywhere. It’s always Snyders fault btw

  • China has stopped buying US soybeans.

    Probably not going to play well in the heartland.

  • AJ Francis calls detractors internet tough guys… then proceeds to tell them to meet him downtown.

    Clearly not the brightest tool in the drawer

  • noonefromtampa

    kon, for now Squinnsamania, brother! • 4 minutes ago
    She drives a Portia.
    =======================

    TV Ellen drives a Portia, she says she is great to hop on and ride

  • noonefromtampa

    Disband the cheerleaders?

    who would the old white male sponsors droll over then?

    Do you people even understand marketing?

    Sex sells, objectify women

  • Squinnsamania, brother!

    AJ Francis

    1. You sucked. That’s why you were cut. A thank you for the opportunity would have been more appropriate. Redskins gave you a chance and a job and didn’t do you wrong. #Growthefuckup
    2. Damn, you ugly.
    3. Go Fugg yourself (although you so ugly, I can understand why you’d refuse).

  • noonefromtampa

    shootings, fights, car crashes Waffles Houses are dangerous — we may need to ban them

    A man was arrested on drunk driving charges after crashing his BMW into a Waffle House in Seminole. According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened at 1:12 a.m. at the Waffle House at 7670 Starkey Road.

    Deputies said 45-year-old Isaias Garcia was driving the BMW southbound through the parking lot when he crashed into the north side of the restaurant.

  • so, forgive me if this was covered, does this mean that Sean Welsh was signed to like a real deal, not a “see if you make the team” type deal like all the rest?

    • Squinnsamania, brother!

      2 year deal, $8mm per, fully guaranteed. Team option to pick-up 10 additional years at $13mm per.

      • Different_Cat

        $16M bonus if he makes HOF after year four.

      • sounds a little steep for a starting LG, but he does have versatility; we’ll see if he makes just six pro bowls or if he’s just a guy who goes every year

      • He just wants to feel wanted

    • to put it another way: why is he listed differently?

    • Can’t find anything about a College free agent signing like Welsh got. But found this about UFA contracts:

      In 2017, a UFA contract was worth $1.665 million over three years,
      starting at the NFL minimum salary of $465,000 per year. Only a small
      fraction of the contract is guaranteed.

      • I think that answers it through implication, he was given a contract under a different program than the typical UFA

    • It does mean that… we just don’t know the actual terms. I’m sure he’s still mucho cutable

    • I took it to mean that he has agreed to terms but hasn’t signed yet.

    • He could have been paid a signing bonus and that might put it in a different category. We have given signing bonuses to undrafted rookies before.

  • kon, for now

    Leave it to family to ask you to get to the other side of the country on short notice, as a favor. But then make excuses for not being able to get to the airport to pick you up.

  • when do rooks start to work with the team….

  • Different_Cat

    Cheerleaders and cub scouts Thursday!

    • Went to camp a cub, left a boyish man

      • “my kid came back from camp, called his mom a trick, walked around all day singing “make it rain”, what the fuck!?”

        • Different_Cat

          Thought he and his friends were downstairs playing video games only to discover they were making human pyramids!

          • Paying the neighborhood girls to build pyramids, while they throw Skittles

  • walter_in_fallschurch

    re boy scouts: when we lived in afghanistan in the 70s, i was a cub scout. we had a little pack of diplomat’s kids (from many countries). don’t know how those pack numbers are assigned, but we were pack #1.

    • I did Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts with several other embassy kids in Austria. Camp was at a US Army training camp in Germany. In spite of nonstop rain, it was pretty fun.

      • When I did cub scouts in the 90’s I think almost every family involved the parents were divorced, and no dad actually wanted to take charge of our pack. It was all the moms trying to run the thing, thinking back on it now, that was a bit odd.

    • kon, for now

      They teach you the right time to harvest those poppies?

  • kon, for now

    “Philosophically we have always had issues with sending scantily clad
    women out on the field to entertain our fans,” John Mara, the Giants
    co-owner, told the New York Times.

    There’s that fishy smell.

    • I know I’m in the vast minority when I say NFL cheerleaders is the dumbest thing ever. High school you bet; college, OK. NFL? Couldn’t care less.

      • Well, welcome to the minority!

      • kon, for now

        They do more than shake pompoms. Fundraisers for awareness causes. Going to childrens hospitals and lifting kid’s spirits.

        I’d happily give you links to the bigger part of their work week, but, god damn search engines are turning everything with the words redskins cheerleaders into a link to the Costa Rica story.

        • O, I get it. All this winning off the field makes me dizzy.

        • Fundraisers for awareness causes. Going to childrens hospitals and lifting kid’s spirits.

          All good stuff. But if the team can’t do that with out running a shuddersome escort service on the side then there’s a management problem.

          • kon, for now

            Don’t know about that. Still an allegation.

            As much as that article did say, nothing said the girls were having sex with any of the sleaze bags. Though, that one fella with the boat did not say that there was no sex.

          • Did he say that the turkey basting was involuntary? How ’bout twerking for $20s?

          • “How ’bout twerking for $20s?”

            You think they made it rain $20’s with out planing for something more?

          • kon, for now

            I think there’s a line, yea.

            Women that say yes, have their own motivations going on.

          • I’m not going to assume what you do, or do not understand about the game. I will offer that you’re pretending to know less than you do.

  • YAY! It’s Cringe Day! YAY!

  • Oh boy now the Boy Scouts of America will just be called the Scouts of America in order to be more inclusive of boys and girls. Of course the Girl Scouts don’t have to be inclusive of boys. When is this political correctness going to end?
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Boy Scouts have been suffering declining membership and a rash of lawsuits stemming from camping/hiking deaths to other issues.

    This is not about political correctness, it’s about trying to get membership up and raising money. At present, there are no programs tailored specifically to girls, and troops will not be integrated.

    My wife is Chief of programs and Community Engagement for the Girl Scouts of Central Texas. While there is some concern about potential Girl Scouts getting poached, they offer far better programs tailored for Girls. If I had a daughter, Girl Scouts would be a no-brainer.

  • Women agree to be cheerleaders for what $1,000 per year + expenses? They didn’t know this going in? Cheerleaders hope for free exposure on a national stage. “Oh, they’ll see me and an agent will call!”, next stop, the silver screen. Let’s look at the details of the hustle…. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. All there is to it.

  • hopefully today, AJ Francis, someone within his inner circle pulls him aside, and talks some sense into him….

    emotional twitter postings, are the stuff of 13 year old girls…

    • Fuck that guy

      • If I were an agent, first thing I would do is sit down the client and tell them, you want me to represent you, you want me to get you the MOST money possible, fine, you don’t post ANYTHING unless I approve it, don’t like it, there’s the door

  • I wonder if the tight end sprinkle, has spent much time bulking up and getting stronger in the offseason? I like to him last year and he’s gotten stronger he might actually be a contributor this year

  • Balderdash

  • I’m not excusing it, but those thinking this will cause DS to sell the team are misguided at best, and delusional at worst.

    Robert Kraft, who owns the arguably best franchise in the league, had a guy on his team who was MURDERING people.

    Still owns it….

    Is it ugly, you betcha, but i’m gonna let some facts come out before I get my pitchfork out….it needs sharpening anyway…

    • I dont think it reaches Fan Snyder. But i expect a few people will be gone

      • Indeed. There will be more than one under-ling that falls on the sword. Won’t go very high up.

    • I am not under the impression that he will sell the team at all I am not under the impression that he will sell the team at all what I am hopeful love is that he would somehow get in front of this and address it and turned around and spend it in a positive way start polishing up his image around the league.

      • How you get in front of it. Fire a PR person involved in all these shady dealings. Fire the manager of the squad. Sit down with the cheerleaders come up with some kind of standards for how things are conducted at these events.

        • Amen!

        • Throw money at them………and after they back it up, then stop……drop it like it’s hot.
          She built like a truck, truck, truck
          Thighs and butt, butt, butt
          All night long……baby let me see that thing…thong, tho-thong, thong thong.

          More interested in the draft picks and our developing roster.

  • Fix it, Bruce. We have a season to get ready for.

  • I wonder how many of the cheerleaders in this complaint are still employed by the Redskins? There was a turnover in the last year or two, right? Seems like new faces?

  • Wonder bread, Hellmann’s, Oscar Meyer all beef bologna. Damn good sammie, at least when I was growing up.

  • Way to piss on our draft, thanks Obama.

  • There is no Defending Daniel Snyder’s record. He has been incompetent at best.

  • I am not a robot

    • Nancy Armour, leftist sensationalist

      “But Snyder tops them all, unabashed in exhibiting both blatant racism and, as reported Wednesday in a New York Times story about his team’s cheerleaders, misogyny.”
      “One night during the trip, the Times reported that nine of the 36 cheerleaders were “hand-picked” to act as escorts at a nightclub for some sponsors. As if that’s not gross enough, the Times said two team officials, senior vice president for operations Lon Rosenberg and president of business operations Dennis Greene, were on hand.”

    • Now they’re draggin’ up the party boat. SMOOT!

      “The Times also described an annual, mandatory boat outing with sponsors. Some of the women characterized the 2012 trip as “a wild gathering, where men shot liquor into the cheerleaders’ mouths with turkey basters. Below the deck, men handed out cash prizes in twerking contests.”

      http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23387536/washington-redskins-cheerleaders-required-pose-topless-2013-photo-shoot-according-report

      • I could see if they were strippers but they’re not. Stupid af

        • They should hire strippers to do those events.

          • Yes and then there wouldn’t be an issue. FO is incompetent at times. Stupid shit like this. Wtf

          • Save a buck, expand the cheerleader’s job description – some guy that’s about to be fired

          • Class organizations don’t have this shit going on. It’s embarrassing.

          • They all do, but those teams dont have the left after them to change their name and will stop at nothing to accomplish their goal.

          • That’s conspiracy bullshit. Just stop defending this shit before you embarrass yourself.

          • I, personally, am shocked

          • Wow, what happened to happy happy? Not a conspiracy and not defending this at all, just see this as a way for some out there to pile on a team that took a stand.

          • Lol

          • I am a happy person but I can be embarrassed by my favorite sports teams Behavior right? There’s no defending this

          • I hear ya and agree, just see it as another “racist” redskins story thats all.

          • That’s what the organization wants you to believe. That every wrongdoing is somehow tied to the racist name of the team. One does not have anything to do with the other in my opinion

          • The article you posted written by feminist Nancy Armour sure tied them together nicely…..

          • That’s about the owner Daniel Snyder and you can debate whether she’s right or not. But I’m talking about cheerleaders being treated as strippers or whores.
            you know cheerleading is actually really popular in school and I have a 12 year old daughter that is playing sports right now and not cheering but many of her friends Do. It starts in middle school and through high school and very competitive in colleges as you know. Anyone who tries to defend this behavior is a lunatic in my opinion it’s a disgrace and I hate that part of the team that I cheer for

          • Yes, she touches aggressively on both subjects, I read it.

          • Back in the day, the 5 o’clock club used to run trains on them hoes, in the equipment shed….the Times reports

          • You’re funny.

          • None of this is funny!!!!!!!!

          • No it isn’t, but you are.

          • Hpy Hpy

          • “shot liquor into the cheerleader’s mouths with turkey baster”, lol
            The psychological implications of this…..lol
            Reenforce the middle, send calvary to the flanks, those gun crews better be poppin’, here they come.

  • Oh boy now the Boy Scouts of America will just be called the Scouts of America in order to be more inclusive of boys and girls. Of course the Girl Scouts don’t have to be inclusive of boys. When is this political correctness going to end?

    • Should be smarter and just merge the two

      • no the smartest thing to do would have been to leave the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts exactly as they were. No need to mix the genders

  • Happy Thursday!

  • Re: AJ Francis

    Dude, if you were good enough to be kept around; you’d have been kept around. And on a professional tip; it’s bad form to trash a team just b/c you got cut. Getting cut is a fact of your profession and all the other teams out there might notice if you are acting like a professional about it, or acting like a jilted preteen who got picked last on the playground.

  • Re: Cheerleaders

    Before a lawsuit gets filed by a cheerleader complaining about how she was forced to cheer in a skirt and pom-poms on gameday in front of men gets filed; my personal opinion is to just disband the whole program. It’s pointless and it’s antiquated. Football is no longer a live-spectator sport where people need to be whooped-up and entertained in the stadium during the pauses. Football is now a made-for-TV sport, where the dead time is filled with commercials, replays and talking-head analysis.

  • damn dog thinks my house shoe is a toy.

  • Zig-Zag_BC Zig-Zag_BC • 7 hours ago
    Well, technically, two hots and a bologna sandwich
    —————————-
    Green county jail bologna sangwiches are the fucking bomb.—smokey

  • https://twitter.com/ChadwikoRCC/status/991857774635114501

    This guy…Gonna be funny when his ass gets cut in training camp

  • I’ve just watched a few episodes of the new Roseanne… frickin’ hysterical!

  • One thing I know for sure about this whole cheerleader deal. No matter what comes out Dan will never sells this team willingly. He will dig in his heels and go scorched earth in an attempt to keep his team. That being said I doubt anything comes of this except for bad publicity, which makes this just a regular old Wednesday in Ashburn

  • Fuck DHall, just picked the Vikings to be the biggest challenge to the Eagles, probably true but damn.

  • DJall gives Ratbirds an A- draft grade on NFL Network

  • In regards to the upcoming cheergate scandal, we should get a good idea of what Bruce is about.
    If he really had any ideas about Vegas
    If he handles this situation reasonably well, he’s rock solid with Dan for the long run.

  • Well twitter sure seems to want to use this news about cheerleaders to get Snyder to sell.

    I don’t think that’ll happen.
    But from what I saw in the story, anyone in charge of the cheerleading program best get those resumes ready, gonna be a bloodbath

    • Why is this coming out 5 years later after it happened?

      • kon, for now

        Well hellz man. It’s the metoo era.

        Tom Brokaw gots some woman coming out talking about how he made a pass at her once. 50 frign years ago.

      • There was that other story last month about the lawsuit that was just filed. Guessing a reporter started sniffing for blood.

    • kon, for now

      Was he there? Does he oversee every aspect of the cheer squad? Was it his idea to put these ladies with skeezy d-bags?

      So long as he’s got nothing to do with any of it…twitter can go pound sand.

      • Well if he was there then he would be putting them with a skeezy d-bag by default.
        The only thing that sounds like it was his call was changing the cheerleaders from an independent group to team owned.

        • kon, for now

          No mention in the piece about him being there.

          • Nope, like i said the folks in trouble are the managers of that team, who it sounds like were using it like a crap escort service

  • Looks like there was a school walkout this morning in SUPPORT of the second amendment and gun ownership.

    Didn’t see that on the major news networks…

  • Just saw a Botox for men commercial on TV…

    California… smh

  • noonefromtampa

    People celebrated May Day rally in Paris, by torching cars and burning a McDonald’s restaurant.

  • noonefromtampa

    Blanding and Welsh are the two to watch from that group

    • Come on man! We got another -El!

    • Did you see how he turns the defender and kicks him out of the gap?

      • He needs some Callahan Kung Fu and Yoga, a good strength regiment, BOOM!

        • kon, for now

          Has he ever played left guard?

          Watching tape here. He’s no Scherff, but…looks to be stout.

          Bama on one side of the line. Hawkeyes on the other.

          • Here:
            Welsh is not physically imposing off the bus, and looks a bit out of place on an Iowa line filled with huge players. But his versatility, toughness, and mobility earned him a starting role since his freshman season. Welsh started all 13 games in 2017, 10 at right guard and three at right tackle, to earn second-team All-Big Ten recognition. He was a second team USA Today All-American and third-team All-Conference honors as a junior, starting 12 games (11 at right guard, one at right tackle). Welsh started every game his sophomore season at left guard (12 games) or right tackle (two), and was voted honorable mention All-Big Ten by league coaches for his efforts. Even as a redshirt freshman Welsh earned honors, as the Big Ten Network’s website gave him first-team freshman All-Big Ten accolades after he started nine of the 13 games in which he played (seven at left guard, two at right guard). Welsh worked out at center in the spring of 2016, his likely pro position, but moved back to guard to get the best five guys up front.

          • Seems promising for an UDFA.

          • kon, for now

            On plays he pulls, he’s decking the defender. Right on their ass.

          • Yeah, caught me by surprise. He can get alittle clumsy, but that’s probably where he needs strength

          • kon, for now

            You can see on his combine reel that he’s top heavy. If he gets off balance or gives up leverage…problems.

            Definitely mobile though.

            I’m not going to raise a red flag…but, as they used to say back in the day, he’s got the melancholy. He’s been diagnosed with depression. He’s public about it. So, he’s facing it. Which is awesome. He gets with the team, Brandon takes him under his wing…gets welcomed and feels part of the unit. He’ll be okay. Put him in a great helmet though. Avoid the CTE.

          • If it doesn’t work out, how much have you had to invest, minus heart

  • Still think the skeeters can see your feet?

  • Agreed to terms with Welsh… should make BC happy. Wonder what those terms are…

  • these guys should be pretty good camp competition, might even have a player or two that sticks in there.

  • Where everybody at?

  • I’ll say this: if Dan ain’t kilt no one, he’ll remain the owner.
    HTTR mofos.

  • This cheer leading story smells fishy, no pun intended. Could it be a way to get Snyder out by those who hate the name in hopes that a new owner comes in and changes the name? Those who hate the name failed by going the legal route, now they could be trying another route.

  • I think Crowder will be gone next year. Jarvis Landry’s deal at 14 mill set the bar. He’s not Landry, but unless Crowder posts a MONSTER season, I wouldn’t even come close to that.

  • Now I’m getting into a legal and ethical thing…but I would want to know if any of these women willingly participated in these events, knowing clearly what was expected. To me where the wrongdoing is…is if they were coerced or felt there would be retaliation for non participation.

  • This COULD (and I emphasize COULD) be the end of Dan Snyder as the owner of the Washington Redskins….like the NBA did to Donald Sterling.

    • Steve Thomas

      Unlikely, but not impossible. We’ll have to see what becomes of it. Right now it’s an interview with the NY Times that the team denies.

      • For the sake of the blog, worst case scenario is that the allegations are true. The NFL cannot have an owner that did this. The Redskins would not recover, ESPECIALLY with the name issue looming. I think he’d be forced out.

        • Different_Cat

          Is your hypothetical that Snyder was personally involved in this decision?

          • Steve Thomas

            I don’t think it matters, at least to me it doesn’t. It happened, hypothetically, on his watch. He’s the leader, he’s responsible.

          • Different_Cat

            Yeah, the buck stops here and all, but as far as the league taking the team away from Snyder I think it would be a critical factor.

          • Steve Thomas

            Of course. And the NFL can’t take the team from him. All the NFL can do is remove him as the designated owner for purposes of NFL management and install what amounts to a receiver. It’s what the MLB did most recently to Frank McCourt at the end of his ownership of the Dodgers. Taking the team would involve putting media and political pressure on him to force him to sell, which is what the NBA did to Sterling.

            But honestly, I can’t see the NFL doing that unless Snyder was found to have personally committed some improprieties.

    • I brought my cup.

  • Different_Cat

    Bullock pointed out that Welsh played G in college but is listed at C.

  • kon, for now

    Schmirst