This move opens Ojulari’s 21-day window to be activated from injured reserve. It sounds like it shouldn’t take long for the linebacker to land back on the 53-man roster; coach Brian Daboll told reporters that Ojulari could be back as soon as this weekend.
Ojulari suffered an ankle injury in mid-October that landed him on injured reserve. Before suffering that injury, the third-year defender saw time in three games (all starts), collecting two tackles while appearing in about half of his team’s defensive snaps. He missed two games earlier in the season while dealing with a hamstring issue.
This is the second-straight injury-marred season for the former second-round pick. Ojulari was limited to only seven games in 2022 thanks in part to a calf injury, but the linebacker still managed to finish the season with 5.5 sacks.
Ojulari lived up to his second-round billing during his rookie campaign. The Georgia product finished that 2021 season with 49 tackles, eight sacks, and 13 QB hits.
Jerry Jones made it rather clear he did not expect the Cowboys to be in on big-ticket trades, especially not ones Dallas brass initiated. True to the longtime owner’s word, the Cowboys stood down and will go into their latest playoff pursuit with the team they built in the offseason.
The Cowboys are without two expected cogs on their defensive second level. Weeks before losing Vander Esch, the team saw third-round pick DeMarvion Overshown suffer an ACL tear. Vander Esch’s injury applied some pressure on 2022 fifth-round pick Damone Clark, whom the team moved into the starting lineup after not re-signing Anthony Barr. Clark leads the Cowboys with 56 tackles, 15 more than any other Dallas defender.
Markquese Bell, a 2022 UDFA, has operated alongside Clark as a regular. The converted DB has made 41 stops this season, and Pro Football Focus has viewed the Florida A&M product as the NFL’s 10th-best off-ball linebacker this season. Granted, that grade has come on just 249 defensive snaps, but the advanced metrics site tabs Bell as the league’s sixth-best coverage ‘backer. Vander Esch is not expected to miss the rest of the season; the sixth-year defender will be eligible to come off IR in Week 11. Though, the team’s trade push points to Vander Esch — who has a history of neck trouble — not being ready when first eligible.
Tony Pollard‘s efficiency has taken an expected hit, with the Cowboys turning to the franchise-tagged RB as a three-down performer rather than a slick Ezekiel Elliott complementary piece. Pollard has not scored a touchdown since Week 1 and is averaging just 4.0 yards per carry. The 2022 Pro Bowler scored 12 TDs last season and posted an elite 9.5 yards per reception — he is at 6.6 in that category this year — along with a 5.2 YPC figure. Next Gen Stats’ rushing yards over expected metric places Pollard in the bottom 12 among qualified ball carriers. But no supplementary addition is en route. The 6-3 Cowboys will stick to their guns and make do with the roster they have built.
The pre-draft process will see a noticeable tweak beginning in 2024. Three postseason all-star games will soon be allowed to extend invites to draft-eligible underclassmen.
The NFL announced Wednesday it will permit underclassmen to play in the Senior Bowl and other pre-draft showcases, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com notes. While “Senior Bowl” will carry less meaning, the East-West Shrine Bowl and HBCU Legacy Bowl will also be permitted to extend invites to non-senior players. These changes will be effective immediately.
In addition to the actual games, players use the practices to showcase their skills for NFL personnel. The Senior Bowl’s practices are a prime scouting event annually, bringing all 32 teams’ staffs to Mobile, Ala. Wednesday’s announcement will change how those rosters are constructed, likely taking spots away from seniors, with the fringe Mobile candidates potentially needing to play in the lower-tier all-star games. As InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton offers, the NFL effectively only endorsing three all-star events will negatively impact the Hula Bowl and the other round of all-star games. Those Alabama-based workouts, however, will likely generate more buzz due to the caliber of prospects that will be eligible for invites.
Players who have been out of high school for three years are draft-eligible, meaning this will impact juniors and redshirt sophomores. With the NCAA’s COVID-19 policy extending an additional year of college eligibility to players in school during the pandemic, NFL draft classes have seen an uptick of mid-20-somethings in recent years. That era winding down stands to return rookie classes to their usual age range, though the NIL development and the transfer portal have given players more appealing options to stay in school for their senior seasons.
But the opportunity to compete against top competition at Senior Bowl practice will be a draw for underclassmen, who previously only had the Combine and their respective pro days as official venues to change their pre-draft stock. Sixty-nine juniors entered this year’s draft, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, doing so without any all-star game opportunities. It will be interesting to see the Senior Bowl’s roster makeup in 2024. Per usual, several of the top prospects in the upcoming class are draft-eligible juniors. This includes top QBs Caleb Williamsand Drake Maye, whose Senior Bowl workouts — should the USC and North Carolina prospects choose to participate — will be highly anticipated.
In a situation that somehow looks worse than the 2021 setup that led to Joe Judge‘s firing, the Giants will enter the next three games without their top two quarterbacks available. Daniel Jones is out for the season, and Tyrod Taylor must miss at least three more games. The emergency setup will remain for Week 10.
Rather than move to Matt Barkley(and thus an all-Barkley backfield), the Giants will stick with rookie UDFA Tommy DeVito for their rematch against the Cowboys, Brian Daboll said Wednesday. The Giants have bumped Barkley to their 53-man roster, however, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.
Barkley, 33, has made seven career starts. Though, none have come since 2018. The well-traveled backup/third-stringer caught on with the Giants just last week. With DeVito having signed as a UDFA earlier this year, he has a head start on the veteran arm. That said, Barkley was with the Bills for nearly Daboll’s entire stay as OC. The Giants now have Jacob Eason on their practice squad as a de facto third-stringer. Jones suffered a torn ACL in Week 9, and Daboll said Taylor is not a lock to return from his rib injury this season. That leaves DeVito and Barkley helming a sinking ship.
Both Barkley and Eason are former draft choices who could factor into this bleak situation, but for now, DeVito will keep going. Although 1987 obviously featured more rookies in place as starters, as it featured scabs during a players’ strike, the Associated Press’ Josh Dubow notes DeVito’s start will set a non-strike-year record for rookie quarterbacks to start a game — with 10. The 2019 season involved nine rookie QBs making starts.
The Giants started Taylor against the Jets and Jones against the Raiders. Neither made it out of the first half. Daboll and OC Mike Kafka kept DeVito on a tight leash against the Jets; he completed 2 of 7 passes in that matchup. The staff gave the rookie more opportunities in Las Vegas; DeVito completed 15 of 20 passes against the Raiders, throwing his first touchdown pass. Barkley has not thrown a regular-season pass since 2020, though he has 363 career attempts — most of them coming during his Buffalo stint.
In 2021, the Giants passed on re-signing Colt McCoy in order to replace him with Mike Glennon. Although McCoy sought a second Giants contract and ended up helping the Cardinals end a playoff drought, Glennon became the staff’s pick. Following Jones’ neck injury, the Giants lost their final six games — all of which by double digits — and finished the season with Jake Fromm at the controls. This stretch led to Judge’s firing, which had not been expected around midseason. Daboll helped stabilize matters last season, but the Giants have followed up a divisional-round season with a 2-7 start during a slate in which the worst may be ahead.
The Giants will also be without right tackle Evan Neal for a bit, according to Daboll. The 2022 top-10 pick suffered a left ankle sprain, per ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler. Neal had previously battled a right ankle injury. Tyre Phillips, who spent the 2022 season in New York but wound up on Philadelphia’s practice squad this season, is likely set to replace Neal on the right side, ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan notes. The Giants finally saw Andrew Thomas return against the Raiders, but their run of O-line misfortune will continue in Dallas.
Eligible to be activated from IR this week, James Conner will take the necessary step of returning to practice. The Cardinals will see how their top running back looks Wednesday, designating him for return.
Arizona has three weeks to gauge Conner’s readiness before activating him. While the team used all three weeks of Kyler Murray‘s practice window before bringing the quarterback off the PUP list Tuesday, Conner is unlikely to have a similar timeline. The Cardinals had planned an extensive ramp-up period for Murray, whereas Conner profiles as a more standard return-to-work player.
Conner suffered a knee injury in Week 5, and the Cardinals opted for IR. It is unclear exactly what type of knee injury Conner has rehabbed over the past few weeks, but the seventh-year running back is moving close to a return to game action. The Cardinals have used two of their IR activations this season, though with the team holding the NFL’s worst record (1-8), that is not exactly a pressing matter. But Murray and Conner playing together will provide a bonus for Drew Petzing‘s offense, which is coming off a historically bad outing in Cleveland.
Neither the Arizona/Phoenix or St. Louis Cardinals had produced a yardage total worse than the 58 the team compiled in Week 9, which was the franchise’s worst since a 1955 Chicago Cardinals effort. After announcing Josh Dobbs as the Week 9 starter, Jonathan Gannon backtracked — just before the team traded its season-long signal-caller to the Vikings. That ended up playing a key role in Minnesota’s Week 9 fortunes, and it left fifth-round rookie Clayton Tune overmatched against a formidable Browns defense. But Murray is in line to return against the Falcons, providing some optimism amid this rebuilding season.
Murray and Conner have spearheaded the Cardinals’ backfield together since 2021, and the ex-Le’Veon Bell backup has made steady contributions with his second NFL team. The former Steelers third-rounder delivered a surprising 18-touchdown effort in 2021, earning a three-year, $21MM contract in 2022. The NFL shifted course again on running backs this offseason, but Conner remained on his midlevel deal. None of 2023’s RB free agents collected what Conner had in 2022, and while the Buccaneers ditched their $7MM-per-year Leonard Fournette contract, Conner remained in place and played well to start this season.
Conner rushed for 364 rushing yards in five games, leaving Week 5 early, and he is averaging 5.4 per carry. The Cardinals have used rookie UDFA Emari Demercado, 2022 sixth-rounder Keaontay Ingram and veteran in-season addition Damien Williams in Conner’s absence. Conner topped a 70% snap share in Weeks 1 and 2 and was over 60% in Weeks 3 and 4. This points to the Cards keeping at least one of their backups in the fold upon activating their starter, but Conner will undoubtedly remain the team’s preferred option behind Murray.
Will Levis did not beat out Malik Willis for the backup role out of training camp, but after two starts in relief of Ryan Tannehill, the second-round rookie will make a major jump. Mike Vrabel named Levis his starter going forward.
Once Tannehill recovers from his latest ankle injury, Vrabel confirmed (via ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport) he will be the backup. This will be Tannehill’s first time in a backup role since the opening weeks of the 2019 season, when Tennessee kept Marcus Mariota in place as the starter.
Like Mariota in 2019, Tannehill is in a contract year. Following the ex-Dolphins starter’s surprisingly productive (and surprisingly healthy) stretch upon replacing Mariota four years ago, the Titans gave Tannehill a four-year extension worth $118MM. This came just before the start of free agency in 2020, allowing the team to use its franchise tag on Derrick Henry. Tannehill started 61 games for the Titans over the past five seasons. Barring a Levis injury, it looks likely he will not start a 62nd for the team.
Although Warren Moon and Dan Pastorini started more games than Tannehill with the franchise, only Steve McNair outranks the 2012 first-rounder for QB starts as a Titan. The team was believed to have considered Tannehill trades this past April, when it was regularly linked to moving up for a first-round quarterback. New GM Ran Carthon was believed to have bowed out of the running for a Round 1 move up when the Texans chose C.J. Stroud. In Round 2, however, Carthon resumed the pursuit by trading up with the Cardinals for Levis.
As Tannehill moves toward free agency, Levis joins Stroud and Anthony Richardson as long-term options under center in the AFC South. The No. 33 overall pick, Levis took a more complicated route to this point. He was widely expected to become a first-round pick, with the Colts frequently connected to the Kentucky product. After Indianapolis went with Richardson, Levis tumbled down the board and out of the first round. The Titans traded a 2024 third-rounder to move up for Levis, who has an extended runway to show he can be Tennessee’s unquestioned starter for the ’24 season.
In two games as a starter, Levis has completed 60.3% of his passes — at 7.4 yards per throw — and tallied four touchdown tosses compared to one interception. The Titans topped the Falcons in Week 8, with Levis hitting DeAndre Hopkins for three scores, and narrowly lost to the Steelers in Week 9. Had the Titans drifted off track to start the season, an extended look was always likely for Levis. Now that Tennessee sits 3-5, the team will see what Levis can offer down the stretch.
Both Tannehill and Willis were acquired during GM Jon Robinson‘s run. With Carthon drafting Levis, this could begin a new era for the Titans. Willis remains on Tennessee’s 53-man roster, but after Levis leapfrogged him, the raw passer has a cloudy future in Nashville. Tannehill has now missed seven games over the past two seasons due to ankle trouble. That will likely affect his 2024 free agency bid, though teams should still be interested in a quarterback who piloted the Titans to three playoff berths and the 2019 AFC championship game.
A week removed from this year’s trade deadline, every team will soon have its acquired talent in uniform. The 49ers, Lions and Jaguars made trades while in bye weeks; Chase Young, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Ezra Cleveland will suit up for their new teams soon.
On this note, it is time to gauge the position every notable buyer and seller landed in following the deals. This year’s deadline featured two second-round picks being moved, though the teams that made those moves (Chicago, Seattle) have different timelines in place.
We have to start with the Commanders, who scrapped their yearslong Young-Montez Sweatpartnership by making the surprise decision to move both defensive ends hours before the deadline. Although the team was listening to offers on both, it was widely assumed they would only part with one, thus saving a contract offer or a 2024 franchise tag for the other alongside well-paid D-tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen. New owner Josh Harris looks to have made his bigger-picture plan clear, however, pressing upon the Commanders’ football-ops department to explore moving both.
Washington collected a second-rounder that likely will land in the 30s in exchange for Sweat, who was in a contract year at the time. It only obtained a compensatory third for Young, who drew interest from other teams (including the Ravens). For the first time in the common draft era, Washington holds five picks in the first three rounds. It cannot be assumed Ron Rivera and GM Martin Mayhew will be making those picks, but Harris has effectively forced his hot-seat staffers to make do this season without Young and Sweat, who have combined for 11.5 sacks this year.
The initial team to pounce on the Commanders’ sale made a buyer’s move despite being in a seller’s position for the second straight year. After trading what became the No. 32 overall pick for Chase Claypool, GM Ryan Poles signed off on the Sweat pickup. The Bears have struggled to rush the passer under Matt Eberflus, having traded Khalil Mack in March 2022 and Robert Quinn last October. While acquiring a veteran in a contract year injects risk into the equation, Poles had the franchise tag at his disposal. But the Bears made good use of their newfound negotiating rights with Sweat, extending him on a four-year, $98MM pact. Despite no Pro Bowls or double-digit sack seasons, Sweat is now the NFL’s fifth-highest-paid edge rusher. Though, the Bears’ long-term edge outlook appears rosier compared to its pre-Halloween view.
Mayhew, Robert Saleh and Mike McDaniel have provided third-round compensatory picks for the 49ers, who have been the NFL’s chief beneficiary of the Rooney Rule tweak that awards third-round picks to teams who see minority coaches or execs become HCs or GMs. The team has more picks coming after the Ran Carthon and DeMeco Ryans hires. Using one to acquire Young seems like a low-risk move, given the former Defensive Rookie of the Year’s talent. Young has made strides toward recapturing the form he showed before his severe 2021 knee injury, and he is on pace for a career high in sacks.
The 49ers, who won last year’s trade deadline by landingChristian McCaffrey, will deploy Young alongside ex-college teammate Nick Bosa and the rest of their high-priced D-line contingent. The team will have a decision to make on Young soon; the free agent-to-be is not eyeing in-season extension talks, either. San Francisco could at least be in position to nab a midround compensatory pick, should Young leave in 2024.
The Young move came a day after the Seahawks obtained Leonard Williams from the Giants. That move cost Seattle second- and fifth-round picks. Williams is also in a contract year, but with the Giants picking up most of the tab, Seattle has the veteran D-tackle on its cap sheet at $647K. The former Jets top-10 pick has shown consistent ability to provide inside pressure, and the USC alum’s best work came in his previous contract year (2020). Gunning for another big payday, Williams joins Dre’Mont Jones in what is probably the best interior D-line duo of the Seahawks’ Pete Carroll era.
Seattle still surrendered a second-round pick for a player who could be a rental. Williams cannot realistically be franchise-tagged in 2024, with the Giants tagging him in 2020 and ’21, and he is not yet on Seattle’s extension radar. The Giants have already paid Dexter Lawrence and were planning on letting Williams walk. They passed on a comp pick for the trade haul, effectively buying a second-round pick in the way the Broncos did in the 2021 Von Miller trade. The Giants, who suddenly could be in the market for a 2024 QB addition, now have an additional second-rounder at their disposal.
While they made their move a week before the deadline, the Eagles landed the most accomplished player of this year’s in-season trade crop. Kevin Byard is a two-time first-team All-Pro safety, and although he is in his age-30 season, the former third-round pick is signed through 2024. The Eagles sent the Titans fifth- and sixth-round picks (and Terrell Edmunds) for Byard, a Philadelphia native, marking the team’s second splash trade for a safety in two years. Philly’s C.J. Gardner-Johnson swap turned out well, and Byard not being a pure rental could make this a better move.
Rather than turning to a fifth-round rookie, the Vikings acquired Josh Dobbs in a pick swap involving sixth- and/or seventh-rounders and saw the move translate to a surprising Week 9 win. Dobbs following in Baker Mayfield‘s footsteps as a trade acquisition-turned-immediate starter also made him the rare QB to see extensive action for two teams in two weeks; Mayfield was inactive in his final game as a Panther. The well-traveled Dobbs could give the Vikings a better chance to stay afloat in the NFC playoff race.
The Lions (Peoples-Jones), Jaguars (Cleveland) and Bills (Rasul Douglas) also made buyer’s moves at the deadline. The Bills gave the Packers a third-round pick, collecting a fifth in the pick-swap deal, for Douglas. They will hope the Green Bay starter can help stabilize their cornerback corps after Tre’Davious White‘s second major injury.
Who ended up faring the best at this year’s deadline? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts on this year’s moves in the comments section.
The Giants’ season is currently circling the drain as a 2-7 start has now been compounded with the season-ending ACL injury of starting quarterback Daniel Jones. With Jones out and primary backup passer Tyrod Taylor still on injured reserve with a rib cage injury for the next three games, at least, New York is adding an arm to their stable in the form of young journeyman Jacob Eason on a practice squad deal, per Dan Salomone, managing editor of Giants.com.
Eason has been on the Giants’ radar for a while now, working out with them in minicamp back in June, according to The Athletic’s Dan Duggan, and returning for a tryout today, as well, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. Despite having been rostered by four other teams since being drafted in the fourth-round by Indianapolis four years ago, Eason has only appeared in games for the Colts and Panthers. In one game each for either team in the past two seasons, the 25-year-old has seen extremely limited time completing just 5 of 10 pass attempts for 84 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions in just 12 offensive snaps.
Eason likely isn’t coming in to save the day as a starter, or at least not right away. According to Pat Leonard of New York Daily News, head coach Brian Daboll told the media that, with Taylor not certain to return at any point this season, the current plan at quarterback is undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito as the starter, along with getting practice squad veteran backup passer Matt Barkley “up to speed.” Daboll also plans to communicate more with general manager Joe Schoen about possibilities at the position.
The sum of DeVito’s NFL experience has come in the past two weeks as he served replacement duty for both Taylor and Jones in consecutive games. After only completing two of seven pass attempts for -1 yards in his debut, DeVito showed more poise this weekend, going 15 of 20 for 175 yards, while throwing one touchdown and two interceptions. Barkley hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since 2020 and hasn’t made a start since 2018. Over his career, Barkley holds a completion percentage of 58.4 and a touchdown-interception ratio of 11-22.
Neither option likely provides Giants fans with much hope for turning around their season. Nor does Eason, probably, for that matter. Regardless, in comes Eason to provide some depth and experience at the most important offensive position.
After not missing a single game over his first three seasons in the NFL, Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson has missed the team’s last four contests. The 24-year-old was placed on injured reserve back in mid-October while dealing with a hamstring injury, but after sitting out the four games required before returning from IR, Jefferson is still unlikely to return for the Vikings’ matchup with the Saints this weekend, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
Early on in Jefferson’s absence, Minnesota felt confident in his ability to return to the field quickly. Certain reports hinted that the team was not expecting Jefferson to require more than the four-week minimum requirement that a player must remain on IR before being activated back to the active roster.
While head coach Kevin O’Connell did acknowledge that the injury was “significant,” the Vikings certainly didn’t determine the ailment to be season-ending. Still, hamstring issues can linger persistently and naggingly, as we saw last year with both Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen and former Raiders tight end Darren Waller, who each missed at least seven games in 2022.
O’Connell did recently say that “it’s possible” the Vikings open up Jefferson’s 21-day practice window tomorrow, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, but the second-year head coach cautioned that the team is weary of doing anything that may set Jefferson back in his recovery. There are likely some steps that still need to be taken in order for that designation to be made. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the team is uncertain about his status and unable to make a decision on how to handle the young wideout because Jefferson still needs to meet with doctors.
So, while the Vikings could designate Jefferson to return from IR, opening his 21-day practice window to come off the injured list, if they make the designation too soon, and Jefferson experiences a setback that keeps him from coming back to the active roster, they risk losing Jefferson for the remainder of the year. The team will need to gather all the possible information to make sure that bringing him back to practice this week is the best decision for both parties, regardless of his current eligibility.
In the meantime, Minnesota will continue to spread the ball around in order to account for Jefferson’s absence. Since he was placed on IR, the Vikings are 4-0, including a back-and-forth win without quarterback Kirk Cousins last week. In the first three games without Jefferson, Minnesota had a different leading receiver in every contest as rookie Jordan Addison, K.J. Osborn, and tight end T.J. Hockenson all stepped up their contributions.
With Cousins out for the remainder of the year with a torn Achilles tendon, the continued ball distribution will be up to newly acquired quarterbackJoshua Dobbs, who was forced to step in and lead his new team to victory when interim starting quarterback Jaren Hallwent down with a concussion. It sounds like Dobbs will be forced to figure it out without Jefferson for at least another week.
Price finds his way to injured reserve with an undisclosed injury in order to make room for quarterback Kyler Murray, who was activated from IR this afternoon. Price spent time on IR last year with a knee injury before missing the first five games of this season, as well.
This move opens Ojulari’s 21-day window to be activated from injured reserve. It sounds like it shouldn’t take long for the linebacker to land back on the 53-man roster; coach Brian Daboll told reporters that Ojulari could be back as soon as this weekend.
