Browns To Sign Jeff Driskel Off Cardinals’ Practice Squad
As Joe Flacco‘s stunning resurgence has lifted the Browns to a playoff berth, injuries have still defined the team’s season at quarterback. Flacco’s backup, and Deshaun Watson‘s top reserve to start the season, Dorian Thompson-Robinson is on IR.
The Browns had brought P.J. Walker back to their 53-man roster, but they now have some additional insurance. The team signed Jeff Driskel off the Cardinals’ practice squad Friday, GOPHNX.com’s Howard Balzer tweets. Driskel will join Flacco and Walker on Cleveland’s active roster.
[RELATED: Browns Have Discussed Re-Signing Joe Flacco]
Because the Browns are poaching Driskel off another team’s P-squad, he must remain on their 53-man roster for at least three weeks. Driskel represents the latest Browns-Cardinals QB move, with the teams exchanging Josh Dobbs in August. Driskel moving from Drew Petzing‘s system to Kevin Stefanski‘s will make for a smooth transition, seeing as Petzing was the Browns’ QBs coach previously.
This will be team No. 7 for Driskel, who had been with the 49ers, Lions, Bengals, Broncos and Texans before joining the Cardinals in April. During a busy period for the Browns at quarterback, the 30-year-old passer joins a team that has two signal-callers on IR, a starter who was out of football until November and a backup who had been demoted to the practice squad.
A 2016 49ers sixth-round pick, Driskel has not thrown a pass this season. The Cards reshuffled their QB room by drafting Clayton Tune and trading for Dobbs four months later. Dobbs became Arizona’s starter, late arrival notwithstanding, and Tune his backup as Kyler Murray finished off his ACL rehab. Although the Cardinals moved on from Colt McCoy and David Blough, Driskel remained as a P-squad arm.
Driskel is just a 59.2% career passer, at 6.1 yards per attempt, and has a 1-9 record as a starter. Most of those starts came for struggling Bengals and Lions teams (2018-19), with Driskel filling in for Andy Dalton and then Matthew Stafford. He started one game for the Texans last season. It is unclear if the Browns will want Driskel as their backup, but Walker has completed just 48.6% of his passes (6.1 Y/A), regressing from his Panthers form.
Cardinals To Place Marquise Brown On IR
Marquise Brown‘s second Cardinals season will end early due to injury. Jonathan Gannon confirmed Friday the fifth-year wide receiver will be moved to IR.
Although the 2022 trade acquisition has played 14 games, the heel injury he sustained has been an issue for a while, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. This transaction will end a contract year for Brown, who will finish with a career-low 574 receiving yards. Brown was able to play through this malady prior to last week, but he is less than three months from free agency coming off a down year.
The Cardinals’ pivot to a rebuild made Brown a logical trade candidate this year. The regime that brought him in is no longer in place, and ex-Oklahoma teammate Kyler Murray spent half the season on the reserve/PUP list rehabbing an ACL tear. The Cardinals, however, did not make a seller’s move by sending Brown to a contender. That points to an extension being on the team’s radar. While the the NFC West club is believed to be interested in extending Brown, time is running out on that front.
Brown and the Cardinals began discussing an extension earlier this season. A new deal for Brown would stand to support the Cardinals giving Murray another season to work in OC Drew Petzing‘s system, considering how important the Pro Bowl quarterback’s presence was in bringing Brown to Arizona. The Cards are still evaluating Murray in his return from the severe knee injury, and they are poised to hold a top-three draft pick in April. But the extension the Steve Keim regime gave Murray last year will make the dual-threat QB’s contract difficult to move in 2024.
Aiming to escape his place in a run-oriented Ravens offense, Brown will finish his first two Arizona seasons with underwhelming numbers. Despite Baltimore centering its offense around Lamar Jackson‘s historically elite rushing dimension, Brown topped 1,000 yards in a season once (2021) and finished with the second-most receiving yards in his career (769) in 2020. The 5-foot-9 target’s top Arizona number (709) came last season, though he only played in 10 games.
The Cardinals do not have much committed to their receiver positions beyond 2023. Third-rounder Michael Wilson is signed through 2026, while Rondale Moore‘s rookie deal runs through 2024. Neither have yet topped 450 yards this year. Moore and Greg Dortch were Keim-era investments. Considering the Cardinals cut DeAndre Hopkins without using a post-June 1 designation, signs point to the team being interested in adding pieces to its receiving corps to complement emerging tight end Trey McBride soon.
Brown, 26, did not exactly boost his stock this season. To be fair, not having Murray for much of it factored into that. The Cardinals will not need to authorize a top-market deal to retain him, but the team’s top wideout can begin negotiating with other teams once the legal tampering period begins in March. Barring a franchise or transition tag, Brown will need to be re-signed before that point to be kept off the market.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/27/23
Wednesday’s minor NFL transactions:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed to the active roster: DT Phil Hoskins
- Designated to return from IR: DT Leki Fotu
Carolina Panthers
- Placed on IR: OLB Amare Barno
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed off Bengals’ practice squad: TE Zach Gentry
- Placed on IR: TE Jesper Horsted
- Waived: T Justin Herron
Minnesota Vikings
- Placed on IR: TE T.J. Hockenson (story)
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: T Matt Pryor
- Designated to return from IR: WR Danny Gray
- Waived: RB Jeremy McNichols
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Designated to return from IR: DL Mike Greene
Washington Commanders
- Designated to return from IR: LB De’Jon Harris
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/27/23
Here are today’s post-holiday practice squad adjustments:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: LB Caleb Johnson, DT Jacob Slade
- Released: TE John Samuel Shenker
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: T Ryan Swoboda
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from practice squad IR: RB Tarik Cohen
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: DT Domenique Davis
Denver Broncos
- Signed: S Keidron Smith
Houston Texans
- Signed: CB Troy Pride
- Released: WR Davion Davis
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: QB Max Duggan
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: S Nate Meadors
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: T Sebastian Gutierrez, WR Willie Snead
- Released: OL Ilm Manning
Seattle Seahawks
- Activated from practice squad IR: LB Levi Bell
Patriots Claim CB Marco Wilson
DECEMBER 27: Wilson did not manage to pass through waivers unclaimed, something which would have set him up for free agency. The Patriots have claimed him, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. As a result, Wilson will finish off the season in New England, a team which has endured plenty of turnover at the CB spot this season. The 24-year-old could see immediate playing time as he looks to earn a roster spot for the 2024 campaign. Schefter’s colleague Field Yates tweets the Broncos and Titans (who sit lower in the priority) also put in claims.
DECEMBER 26: Following Patrick Peterson‘s defection to the Vikings, Marco Wilson became an immediate Cardinals starter. He remained a first-stringer entering this season, and the Cardinals were counting on him after the Vikes also lured Byron Murphy from the desert in March. In a new scheme, Wilson’s stock dropped.
Wilson has not played a defensive snap since Week 11, with the Cards relegating the third-year cornerback to special teams duty. They officially moved on from the former fourth-round pick Tuesday, sending him to waivers. Barely $110K remains on Wilson’s 2023 salary; while his rookie contract runs through 2024, no guaranteed money remains on the deal.
Vance Joseph immediately installed the Florida alum as a starter in 2021, pairing him with Murphy as Arizona’s top corners over the previous two seasons. Wilson started in Week 1 of his rookie year and has made 37 starts over the course of his career. That run came to a halt last month. Wilson has allowed 702 yards in coverage this season, per ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss; that is 300-plus more than any other Cardinal corner has ceded this year. Despite Wilson not playing defense since Week 11, that yardage number still ranks fourth in the NFL.
Wilson’s quick ascent under Joseph notwithstanding, he has rated outside Pro Football Focus’ top 100 at corner in each of his three seasons. The advanced metrics site slots the 6-foot cover man as the third-worst CB regular this year. Wilson logged 83% and 85% snap rates for the Cardinals in 2021 and ’22, respectively, working as a starter in the team’s wild-card loss to the Rams as a rookie. Wilson still leads Cardinals corners in defensive snaps (694). That total tops Antonio Hamilton‘s snap figure by more than 200. The Cardinals have also used Starling Thomas V as a starter in recent weeks, with third-round rookie Garrett Williams manning the slot.
Hamilton was with the team last season, but the Jonathan Gannon–Monti Ossenfort regime has mostly turned the page from the Joseph-era corners. Arizona, which is finishing up a rebuilding year, has not allocated much in the way of resources to corner in recent years. Peterson started for 10 seasons in the desert, crafting a Hall of Fame-caliber resume, while Murphy was in place for four. The Cards will enter the 2024 offseason with many needs; cornerback remains one of them.
Updated 2024 NFL Draft Order
While the Panthers, Cardinals and Commanders continued their losing ways in Week 16, the Patriots’ effort in Denver shook up the top of the 2024 draft. New England has dropped from second to fourth in the ’24 order.
In a strange spot in which Broncos fans and and undoubtedly many Pats supporters wanted the Russell Wilson-driven comeback to succeed, Chad Ryland‘s 56-yard game-winning field goal dropped New England out of the No. 2 spot, injecting doubt about the team’s ability to nab a top-flight QB prospect without trading up next year.
The Bears (via the Panthers) remain atop the table, holding a one-game lead on the Cardinals. Carolina closes its season with two games against eight-win teams — the Jaguars and Buccaneers. Arizona will face Philadelphia and Seattle, and with Carolina’s strength of schedule at .522 and Arizona’s at .561, the draft-order tiebreaker reaffirms the Bears’ placement on the doorstep of entering a second straight offseason holding a No. 1 overall pick. The Justin Fields matter remains an important big-picture NFL topic, but GM Ryan Poles is close to having his pick of the 2024 QB prospects.
It is not clear if the Commanders will be interested in a quarterback in the first round, but they will have a new regime running the show. The last time Washington held a top-three pick (2020), it passed on Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert due to having drafted Dwayne Haskins in the 2019 first round. With Sam Howell struggling as of late, Josh Harris‘ next set of decision-makers may want to bring in their own prospect. The Cardinals could stand in the Commanders’ way, via another trade in the top three, but suddenly Washington could be a player for a 2024 first-round QB.
Ahead of Week 17, here is how the 2024 draft order looks:
- Chicago Bears (via Panthers)
- Arizona Cardinals: 3-12
- Washington Commanders: 4-11
- New England Patriots: 4-11
- New York Giants: 5-10
- Los Angeles Chargers: 5-10
- Tennessee Titans: 5-10
- Chicago Bears: 6-9
- New York Jets: 6-9
- Atlanta Falcons: 7-8
- New Orleans Saints: 7-8
- Green Bay Packers: 7-8
- Las Vegas Raiders: 7-8
- Denver Broncos: 7-8
- Minnesota Vikings: 7-8
- Arizona Cardinals (via Texans)
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 8-7
- Cincinnati Bengals: 8-7
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 8-7
- Indianapolis Colts: 8-7
- Seattle Seahawks: 8-7
- Jacksonville Jaguars: 8-7
- Los Angeles Rams: 8-7
- Buffalo Bills: 9-6
- Kansas City Chiefs: 9-6
- Dallas Cowboys: 10-5
- Houston Texans (via Browns)
- Detroit Lions: 11-4
- Miami Dolphins: 11-4
- Philadelphia Eagles: 11-4
- San Francisco 49ers: 11-4
- Baltimore Ravens: 12-3
Cardinals DE Jonathan Ledbetter Out For Season
As the Cardinals close out the 2023 season over the next two weeks, they will be shorthanded along the defensive interior. Jonathan Ledbetter is out for the rest of the year due to a knee injury, head coach Jonathan Gannon announced on Tuesday. 
The defensive end was injured on Sunday in the Cardinals’ loss to the Bears, and he will now likely find himself on injured reserve. Ledbetter’s 2023 campaign – his third in Arizona – has seen him take on a full-time starter’s role and post new career-highs in terms of production. The news thus come as a disappointing end to an encouraging season.
The 26-year-old played only one game in his debut Cardinals campaign in 2021, but he was used in a rotational capacity the following year. Logging a 29% snap share, Ledbetter posted 22 tackles while making 14 appearances and three starts. He finished the season on injured reserve, but remained in place for the current season as a young, inexpensive option for the rebuilding Cardinals’ defense.
In 2023, Ledbetter started all 12 of his appearances while seeing a signficant jump in playing time (64% snap share). The former UDFA parlayed that increased workload into a new career high in tackles (46), sacks (1.5), pressures (five) and quarterback hits (four). His improvement in the pass-rush department produced a 60.0 PFF grade in that regard, although Ledbetter’s overall evaluation resulted in an overall grade of 36.2, a regression from last season.
The Georgia alum is a pending free agent, so it will be interesting to see if his performance this season earns him a new Cardinals deal or a market amongst other suitors in the new league year. In any case, Ledbetter will turn his attention to recovery while Arizona moves forward without a D-line starter to finish the campaign.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/23/23
Saturday’s gameday elevations and other minor moves around the league:
Arizona Cardinals
- Elevated: WR Dan Chisena, WR Kaden Davis
Atlanta Falcons
- Placed on IR: FB Keith Smith
- Signed to active roster: TE Tucker Fisk
- Elevated: P Pat O’Donnell, OL John Leglue
Buffalo Bills
- Elevated: RB Leonard Fournette
Carolina Panthers
- Elevated: G Gabe Jackson, G J.D. DiRenzo
Chicago Bears
- Elevated: WR Collin Johnson
Cleveland Browns
- Elevated: S Tanner McCalister, LB Charlie Thomas
Dallas Cowboys
- Elevated: DT Carl Davis, RB Malik Davis
Denver Broncos
- Elevated: QB Ben DiNucci, OLB Ronnie Perkins
Detroit Lions
- Elevated: K Michael Badgley (story), TE Anthony Firkser
Green Bay Packers
- Elevated: WR Bo Melton, S Benny Sapp
Indianapolis Colts
- Elevated: WR Ethan Fernea
Miami Dolphins
- Elevated: CB Ethan Bonner, OLB Melvin Ingram
Minnesota Vikings
- Elevated: WR Lucky Jackson, CB Jaylin Williams
New York Jets
- Elevated: FB Nick Bawden, LB Marcelino McCrary-Ball
Seattle Seahawks
- Elevated: CB Kelvin Joseph, S Ty Okada
Tennessee Titans
- DB Shyheim Carter, CB Tay Gowan
Washington Commanders
- Elevated: LS Tucker Addington, OL Nolan Laufenberg
The Bills will not have depth running back Ty Johnson available for tonight’s game, leading to the decision to elevate Fournette. The former Super Bowl champion will thus make his Buffalo debut, although with lead back James Cook in the lineup, Fournette will likely not receive many looks on offense. The latter has already returned a kickoff for the first time in his career, however.
Signed to the Dolphins’ practice squad last week, Ingram will also make his 2023 debut in Week 16. The 34-year-old last played during his Miami stint in 2022, during which time he started three games and recorded six sacks. With Jaelan Phillips out for the year, Ingram will look to once again give the Dolphins a rotational presence off the edge.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/20/23
Wednesday’s minor transactions:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed from practice squad: LB Tyreek Maddox-Williams
- Signed off Ravens’ practice squad: TE Travis Vokolek
- Placed on IR: TE Geoff Swaim, LB Josh Woods
Carolina Panthers
- Designated to return from IR: LB Claudin Cherelus
Cincinnati Bengals
- Claimed off waivers (from Falcons): DT Travis Bell
Denver Broncos
- Designated to return from IR: OL Alex Palczewski
New York Giants
- Designated to return from IR: RB Gary Brightwell, T Matt Peart
New York Jets
- Waived: FB Nick Bawden
San Francisco 49ers
- Placed on IR: DT Kalia Davis
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Designated to return from IR: WR Rakim Jarrett
Tennessee Titans
- Signed off Texans’ practice squad: LB Garret Wallow
- Placed on IR: WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
Updated 2024 NFL Draft Order
The Panthers’ Week 15 win over the Falcons brought the Patriots and Cardinals, who each lost, one game closer to the No. 1 overall pick. New England’s weaker strength of schedule provides keeps Arizona in the No. 3 spot, while Washington — weeks away from a likely full-scale reboot — has lost five straight to move into position for its first top-five pick since 2020.
Early reports have the Bears more likely to draft Justin Fields‘ replacement than trading a top pick once again, but the Patriots and Cardinals are still in the running for what could well be the Caleb Williams draft slot. Much less drama would emerge if New England claimed the top pick, as the Patriots would be expected to draft the top QB prize. Arizona landing atop the draft for the second time in six years could produce a derby, with Kyler Murray‘s contract difficult (but not impossible) to move for new GM Monti Ossenfort. QB-needy teams may well be hoping the Cardinals land one of the top two spots, however, providing a potential gateway to a trade-up for Williams or Drake Maye.
The Raiders’ 63-21 demolition of the Chargers slid them down six spots compared to their position last week. The Packers also climbed eight spots from their slot going into Week 15. Green Bay has not held a top-11 draft choice since it drafted B.J. Raji in the 2009 first round; that came on the heels of Aaron Rodgers‘ first season at the helm. Jordan Love‘s QB1 debut season could still produce a playoff berth, however, and the rest of the NFC and AFC wild-card races remain tightly bunched.
Here is how the 2024 draft order looks with three regular-season games to play:
- Chicago Bears (via Panthers)
- New England Patriots: 3-11
- Arizona Cardinals: 3-11
- Washington Commanders: 4-10
- Chicago Bears: 5-9
- New York Giants: 5-9
- New York Jets: 5-9
- Los Angeles Chargers: 5-9
- Tennessee Titans: 5-9
- Atlanta Falcons: 6-8
- Green Bay Packers: 6-8
- Las Vegas Raiders: 6-8
- New Orleans Saints: 7-7
- Denver Broncos: 7-7
- Seattle Seahawks: 7-7
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 7-7
- Arizona Cardinals (via Texans)
- Buffalo Bills: 8-6
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 7-7
- Minnesota Vikings: 7-7
- Los Angeles Rams: 7-7
- Indianapolis Colts: 8-6
- Jacksonville Jaguars: 8-6
- Cincinnati Bengals: 8-6
- Kansas City Chiefs: 9-5
- Houston Texans (via Browns)
- Detroit Lions: 10-4
- Philadelphia Eagles: 10-4
- Miami Dolphins: 10-4
- Dallas Cowboys: 10-4
- Baltimore Ravens: 11-3
- San Francisco 49ers: 11-3