NFL Player News

Vikings undrafted rookie tight end MyCole Pruitt proved to be the star of the game in the first game of the NFL season Sunday.

Pruitt caught four passes for 51 yards and a touchdown in a defeat of Pittsburgh in the Hall of Fame Game. He snagged a 34-yard pass from Mike Kafka in the second quarter for the score.

Lions tight end Joseph Fauria left practice Thursday with an unknown injury, MLive.com has reported. He returned to the field without pads and wearing a protective sleeve on his left knee.

"He got a little tweak," Jim Caldwell said. "Maybe it will take him a couple days to get back."

Fauria missed nine games due to injury last season and finished with just six catches for 74 yards.

New Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham knows that he will have to become more than just a pass-catcher in Seattle's offense in order to succeed, per the Seattle Times. 

Graham, not known for his blocking while a member of the Saints, will be in a two-TE set with the Hawks, forcing him to block, by his estimation, "75 percent" of the time. 

"Now here I'm blocking quite a bit, and I love it," he said. "It's very important to me to be a part of that here. That's about 75 percent of the offense here. When you have a back like that, you want to be in there on those explosive runs, and you want to be a part of that."

The Packers have no intention of releasing tight end Andrew Quarless despite his arrest on July 4 for allegedly shooting off his gun in public, sources have told ESPN.

Quarless was charged with a misdemeanor after firing two shots into the air outside a parking garage in Miami Beach, per police reports. He was seen arguing with two women before the incident.

Packers tight end Andrew Quarless was arrested for firing a gun twice in Miami on Saturday, per the Miami New Times.

Quarless was involved in a fight at South Beach and fired the gun into the ground. 

Lions tight end Joseph Fauria hasn't had the most conventional start to his NFL career.

He broke out in 2013 as an undrafted free agent with seven touchdowns, but then the Lions drafted another tight end in the first round the following season. Fauria now expects to hit his stride and improve on last season's six catch, 74 yard totals.

“Extremely frustrating,” Fauria said, per the team website. “But it’s something you have to overcome. Football is frustrating, you know. Everyone has injuries. Everyone has trials and tribulations and it’s how you answer them and how you come back. I’m expecting myself to come back strong.”

Fauria is a huge target a 6-foot-7 and the Lions hope they can use that to their advantage next season.

“He has a unique skill set,” head coach Jim Caldwell said of his big tight end. “When you’re not able to utilize everything that’s available to you, you know, obviously you have to find other ways to do it.

“So, he brings to the table a little something that you can’t teach. He has height and he can position himself, particularly in the red zone, extremely well.”

Giants tight end Larry Donnell is no longer using a walking boot on his left foot, reports the New York Daily News.

Donnell was using the walking boot to heal from Achilles tendinitis in his left heal.

After tight end Zach Sudfeld cleared waivers Wednesday, the Jets placed him on injured reserve, the team announced.

Sudfeld suffered a knee injury during practice last week. In 16 games last season, Sudfeld caught five passes for 85 yards.

Buccaneers tightend Timothy Wright is excited to be back in Tampa and is ready to take on a contributing role with the team, per The Tampa Tribune.

Wright, who started his career with the Bucs before being traded to the Patriots last year, is glad to be back where his career started two seasons ago.

“I’m pretty happy about (the opportunity) to step in and contribute right away,” Wright said.

Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith said the move to bring back Wright, who caught five touchdowns as a rookie for the team, makes the Bucs a better team.

“It was an easy decision to make on Tim,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “We liked Tim (last year). We decided to go in a different direction, but now we’re a stronger football team with Tim on our team. It’s good to have him back.”

Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar has at least been consistent with his pass-catching production in his first two NFL seasons. He totaled nine receptions in both of them.

Considering his limited opportunities, backup status to still-effective Jason Witten and battle to be offensively relevant among many weapons, he couldn't have expected much more. So he is hoping to become a better blocker, a skill the Cowboys feel he needs to improve.

Escobar did see more action in 2014 with 263 snaps, compared to 207 the previous year. He began his NFL career at 245 pounds, but is now up to 255 and hopes to land at 260 before the regular season begins.

"Every year I feel like I make strides, just understanding the game, being more comfortable playing in the NFL," he told the Dallas Morning News. "Every year I feel like I've been taking steps in the right direction."