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Arizona Cardinals added an experienced player to practice squad
Tight end John Samuel Shenker is back in the NFL, and it’s not with the Las Vegas Raiders this time.
The Arizona Cardinals announced the signing of the Auburn alumnus for their practice squad as part of a set of personnel moves involving tight ends on Wednesday.
The Cardinals also placed tight end Geoff Swaim on injured reserve and signed tight end Travis Vokolek off the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad on Wednesday.
Signed by the Raiders as an undrafted rookie in May, Shenker was waived at the end of the preseason when Las Vegas reduced its active roster to the regular-season limit of 53 players.
The Raiders brought Shenker right back, though, as a member of their practice squad.
After Shenker spent the first four weeks of the season on the practice squad, Las Vegas released him on Oct. 5.
On Oct. 18, the Raiders re-signed Shenker for the practice squad. But he was released again on Oct. 24.
In five seasons at Auburn, Shenker set a school record by playing in 62 games, and he also became the Tigers’ career leader for receptions by a tight end with 68 for 779 yards and three touchdowns.
Shenker joins a former Auburn teammate in Arizona. Owen Pappoe is an inside linebacker for the Cardinals who has seen most of his action during his rookie season on special teams.
The NFL’s inevitable carousel of quarterbacks is about to start spinning. Eight teams changed their path at quarterback after last season. The Colts, Panthers and Texans drafted one in the top five picks in April. The Buccaneers, Raiders and Saints each signed veterans in free agency. The Jets traded for Aaron Rodgers, which opened up a promotion for Jordan Love in Green Bay. The league’s other 24 teams generally started this season with the guy who was their signal-caller of record at the end of 2022.
And then the year of the backup quarterback ensued. Fifty-seven different passers have started for teams this season. Only 14 of the league’s 32 teams have been able to start the same guy every week all season. Unsurprisingly, just two of those 14 teams have a losing record. The season has been more about surviving than thriving under center.
Last year, when I looked toward the market of teams that might pursue a new starting quarterback in the offseason, I found 19 that could (or should) have credibly thought about making a change. This year, even with the preponderance of backups around the league, the market is narrower. There’s no Rodgers or Lamar Jackson sweepstakes about to occur. The best QB likely to come available is free agent Kirk Cousins, who tore his Achilles in October.
With a handful of teams sure to make changes, there will be some meaningful movement. Let’s take a look forward to the offseason and discuss the 13 teams that need to be having conversations about their starting spot. Some are more likely to make major changes than others, but the effects of one team’s decision can have ramifications across the league. The 49ers trading up before the 2021 draft and landing Trey Lance ended up, somehow, with Derek Carr going to the Saints.
We’ll go through each team in the quarterback market alphabetically, beginning with one that faces a unique question about who they have and what they might want:
