Texans Sign DT Marlon Davidson, Place Rookie DT On IR
An injury to seventh-round rookie defensive tackle Kyonte Hamilton led to a successful surgery today, and the Texans already found his replacement, signing veteran defensive tackle Marlon Davidson, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. With Hamilton hitting injured reserve after the surgery, Davidson’s spot on the roster was earned after a successful workout with the team. 
Hamilton, a productive interior lineman at Rutgers last year, was carted off the field Wednesday with what appeared to be a significant lower leg injury. After being diagnosed with a fractured ankle and getting scheduled for surgery, it was determined that Hamilton was destined for IR with a potential four-month recovery on deck.
Davidson comes in as the next man up. After appearing in only eight games as a rookie, the second-round pick out of Auburn’s role grew a quite a bit in Year 2. Despite a few spurts of absences forcing him to miss six more games, Davidson found himself with a much larger snap share. In a Week 2 matchup, he recorded his first sack on Tom Brady, and in a Week 13 rematch, Davidson recorded a pick six off the arm of the future Hall of Famer.
Davidson’s NFL career has come crashing down ever since. Prior to the start of the 2022 NFL season, Davidson underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and was placed on IR. Already on the roster bubble due to his frequent absences, Davidson was cut by the team the following month. He rebounded in the offseason, signing with the 49ers, but was relegated to the practice squad after failing to make the initial 53-man roster and released four weeks into the season.
Once again, Davidson found a new spot on the Titans’ practice squad. He would get called up to the active roster near the end of the season and actually ended up starting the final three games of 2023 in Tennessee. The Titans re-signed him in the offseason, but they placed him on IR with a biceps tear in the preseason. He remained there the entirety of the 2024 season.
Now he’ll get another new chance in Houston. As Hamilton goes down for the next four months, Davidson comes in to fill out the position group during training camp. If he wants any chance at making the 53-man roster to stay with the Texans, he’s going to have to show he can stay healthy.
NFL Minor Transactions: 8/1/25
Here are the first minor NFL moves in August:
Arizona Cardinals
- Waived (with injury settlement): CB Jaden Davis
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: CB Grayland Arnold
Buffalo Bills
- Reverted to IR: DE Hayden Harris
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: CB Keenan Isaac
- Claimed off waivers (from 49ers): T Sebastian Gutierrez
Denver Broncos
- Signed: LB Garret Wallow
- Waived: CB Mario Goodrich
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: CB Chris Lammons
- Released: CB Corey Ballentine
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: T Ricky Lee
- Waived: WR Louis Rees-Zammit (story)
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: CB Ajani Carter, CB Azizi Hearn, WR Key’Shawn Smith
- Waived (with injury designation): CB Darius Rush, CB Eric Scott Jr.
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: QB Brett Gabbert
- Placed on IR: CB Kader Kohou (story)
Minnesota Vikings
- Reverted to IR: DE Alex Williams
Philadelphia Eagles
- Waived (with injury settlement): OL Marcus Tate
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: DT Kyler Baugh
- Waived (with injury designation): DT Jacob Slade
- Waived (with injury settlement): OLB Jeremiah Moon
San Francisco 49ers
- Activated from active/PUP list: LB Curtis Robinson
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Reverted to IR: S Marcus Banks, RB D.J. Williams
Washington Commanders
- Signed: Braylon Sanders
Ravens TE Isaiah Likely Undergoes Surgery For Broken Bone In Foot
AUGUST 1: Likely confirmed on Friday that his surgery took place. His recovery period will now begin as he looks to minimize the regular season time missed as a result of the procedure.
JULY 31: After having some of the best injury luck in the league last year, the Ravens were tested in the opening days of camp. Yesterday’s practice ended when tight end Isaiah Likely rolled his ankle and needed to be carted off the field. Per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that Likely would miss a few weeks. News broke this morning that Likely suffered a small fracture in his foot and will be undergoing surgery this week to repair the broken bone, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. 
It’s an unfortunate development for Likely as he heads into the final year of his rookie contract, but the diagnosis is actually a bit of a relief for player and team. Early estimates predict about a six-week recovery for the 25-year-old, with thoughts that it could be a shorter recovery period depending on the results of the surgery. A full six weeks from today puts us midway through Weeks 1 & 2, and if he can get an expedited recovery, he could be back on the field in time for the season opener.
The Ravens aren’t likely to try to rush him back onto the field, though. They’ll be okay with him getting a late start to the season — a much better predicament than what a more severe injury could have put them in. It’s a long season, and they’ll be careful and sure that he’s ready to come back.
Likely doesn’t need to prove himself to Baltimore. Though his career-high totals from last year were modest (42 catches, 477 yards, six touchdowns), Likely has flashed serious ability over his three years in the league. It’s hard to get snaps from behind an All-Pro, three-time Pro Bowler, and franchise touchdown leader in Mark Andrews, but the Ravens have had trouble keeping Likely off the field. On occasions when Andrews has missed time with injury, Likely has shown full potential to function as a team’s TE1.
Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), though Andrews ranked as the fourth-best tight end in the NFL last year, Likely was right behind him at seventh. They were one of only two teams to have two players in the top ten; Minnesota’s duo of T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver ranked eighth and ninth, respectively.
Baltimore is in good hands, though. TE3, who will now step up in Likely’s absence, is Charlie Kolar. Kolar ranked 20th in the league, per PFF, and when ranking tight ends purely by their receiving grades, Andrews, Kolar, and Likely appear at fourth, eighth, and ninth, respectively. Kolar will now have to keep those analytic grades up with more opportunities early in the season until Likely can get back. Also, playing in the final year of his rookie deal, Kolar could have a chance to prove himself to the free agent market, as well.
It will be interesting to see if Baltimore puts Likely on an injured list that would require him to miss the first four games of the season or if they decide to keep him on the active roster to avoid the forced absences. It could also throw a wrinkle in their roster-building plans if they decide to roster an extra tight end until Likely is full-go.
If so, it might require a free agent signing, considering the only two tight ends on the roster behind Andrews, Likely, and Kolar are Sam Pitz — an undrafted rookie — and Zaire Mitchell-Paden — a player who has failed to appear in a single NFL game since going undrafted in 2022. Whatever they decide, it will likely just be a bandage to patch things up until Likely can return.
Raiders, LT Kolton Miller Agree On Extension
Four Raiders remain from the Oakland days of the franchise. The longest-tenured of those four players is now set to stick around in Las Vegas for a few more years, at least. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Raiders are extending left tackle Kolton Miller on a three-year, $66MM agreement. The new deal includes $42.5MM of guaranteed money. 
It’s no surprise that Miller is getting a new deal. We knew back in April that he was seeking a new deal as he skipped the team’s voluntary offseason program. Miller was entering the 2025 NFL season on the final year of the three-year, $54MM extension he had signed in 2021 to move on from his rookie deal. This time around, he’s received a $4MM-per-year raise.
There were thoughts that the Raiders might be looking to draft his replacement with options like Armand Membou and Kelvin Banks Jr. in range at No. 6 overall, but the team opted instead for a pair of third-round, developmental lineman in Texas Tech’s Caleb Rogers and William & Mary’s Charles Grant. Following the draft, Miller returned to team activities as the Raiders seemingly started to play ball. Miller had made it clear that he wanted to retire a Raider, it was just unclear whether or not the team was going to meet him there.
Miller has been a full-time starting blindside blocker for the Raiders since they selected him 15th overall in 2018 out of UCLA. Out of a possible 116 games, Miller has been on the field for all but seven of them. It took a couple years for his massive 6-foot-8, 325-pound frame to find his mojo in the NFL, but he improved year after year. Vegas opted to extend him before they even needed to make a decision on his fifth-year option, giving him an impressive — though not boundary-pushing — deal that would make him the fifth-highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL at the time.
Miller rewarded their faith in him with the best season of his career, in which Pro Football Focus (subscription required) would grade him as the fifth-best offensive tackle in the league out of 83 players graded at the position, commensurate with his salary. Though he hasn’t graded that high in the three years since, rankings of sixth in 2022, 11th in 2023, and 13th last year show that, time and again, Miller is up there with the best bookends in the NFL.
Miller’s new deal is, once again, impressive while not encroaching on the league’s highest-paid tackles, who are creeping up slowly on $30MM per year. His $22MM-per-year average ties him as the 11th-highest-paid tackles with Jordan Mailata and Zach Tom. The three-year term of the deal is short of those we’ve seen for young stars like Rashawn Slater (four years) and Tristan Wirfs (five years), but the contract length is well in line with players closer to his 29 years of age. Laremy Tunsil (28), Dion Dawkins (29), Ronnie Stanley (30), and Taylor Decker (30) all signed three-year deals of their own in the last two years.
While kicker Daniel Carlson shared a rookie year in Oakland with Miller, he didn’t join the team until Week 3 after the team that drafted him (Vikings) waived him two weeks into the season. Having worn a Raiders jersey longer than any other player in the locker room, as a result, Miller’s tenure has been extended through the 2028 season. It’s still to be determined whether or not he’ll spend his entire career in silver and black, as he desires, but today’s deal goes a long way in helping him towards that goal.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/30/25
Here are today’s midweek minor moves:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Activated from reserve/did not report list: DE Trey Hendrickson (story)
- Activated from active/ NFI list: C Seth McLaughlin
Cleveland Browns
- Placed on IR: CB Martin Emerson (story)
- Waived (with injury designation): WR Michael Woods
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: LB Jared Bartlett
- Waived: S Kahzir Brown
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Kwamie Lassiter II
- Waived: P Eddie Czaplicki
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: OL Jalen McKenzie
- Placed on IR: OL Obinna Eze
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: S Gervarrius Owens
- Waived: LB Max Tooley
New England Patriots
- Signed: TE Tyler Davis, TE Cole Fotheringham, C Alec Lindstrom
- Waived (with injury designation): T Yasir Durant,
- Waived: WR Demeer Blankumsee
- Released: RB Trayveon Williams
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: T Jonathan Mendoza
New York Jets
- Reverted to IR: C Gus Hartwig
Philadelphia Eagles
- Reverted to IR: WR Danny Gray
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Reverted on IR: WR Montana Lemonious-Craig, OLB Jeremiah Moon
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: CB Keydrain Calligan
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: RB Owen Wright
Washington Commanders
- Signed: T Lucas Niang
The Chiefs have signed Lassiter, fresh off a spring season with the UFL’s Memphis Showboats, to help cover for the lack of camp bodies at the position. Xavier Worthy, Skyy Moore, and Marquise Brown are all currently sidelined with injuries.
In other Chiefs-related news, Niang will get a new opportunity in Washington for training camp. A former third-round pick in Kansas City, Niang was tried at starter for a bit before ultimately getting demoted to the practice squad last year. The Chiefs released him from the p-squad in November, and he’s been a free agent ever since.
NFC Staff Updates: Eagles, Packers, Panthers
The Eagles recently announced a number of title changes and new hires in their personnel and operations departments, per Mike Garafalo of NFL Network.
In his 15th season in the NFL, and his ninth in Philadelphia, Matt Holland was elevated to assistant director of college scouting. After holding personnel positions in Washington and Cleveland, Holland joined the Eagles in 2017 as a pro scout, elevating to senior pro scout, northeast area scout, senior college/pro scout, and most recently, midwest area scout. His promotion goes hand-in-hand with that of Jarrod Kilburn, who’s been named assistant director of pro scouting. Kilburn worked pro scouting internships for the team back in 2012 and 2014 but didn’t join the team in an official capacity until 2022, when he was hired as a college/pro scout after a 2021 internship.
Others receiving new titles in the scouting department are new pro scout Terrence Braxton, new west coast area scout Rod Streater, and midlands area scout Duke Tobin Jr. Braxton is entering his third year with the team and earns the promotion after switching from operations to scouting last year. Streater joined the team in 2022 as a northeast area scout and has been serving as the team’s NFS scout in the two years since. Preston Tiffany has been hired to fill Streater’s vacant NFS scouting role after a lone year as the director of player personnel at LSU. Tobin, the son of the Bengals’ director of player personnel, is in his third year with the Eagles, following roles as a player personnel associate and a scouting assistant.
We also now finally have a job title for Joe Douglas, who was announced as a new hire back in May. Per Garafolo, Douglas, the former Jets general manager, will be joining Matt Russell, the former Broncos vice president of player personnel, and Dave Caldwell, the former Jaguars general manager, in the shared titles of senior personnel directors/advisors to the general manager. Howie Roseman now has two former GMs and a VP of player personnel advising him.
In operations and analytics, James Gilman has been promoted to senior director of football research and strategy, Jon Liu has been elevated to director of football analytics, and Zachary Steever has been named assistant director of football research and strategy. Gilman is in his eighth year with the team, having started as a quantitative analyst and elevating to senior quantitative analyst, assistant director of football analytics, and director of football analytics. Liu fills Gilman’s old role in his eighth year with the team. He started as a football analytics intern before elevating to football operations analyst, football analytics coordinator, and assistant director of football analytics. Steever steps into the new role after serving as a senior quantitative analyst last year.
Additionally, Grant Reiter was named football transactions coordinator after serving as football transactions intern in 2022 and football transactions associate in 2024. His 2023 season was spent with the Browns as a football administration & research/strategy assistant. New hires in the group are football operations coordinator Molly Rottinghaus and software developer Leif Thorson.
Here are a couple of other staff updates from around the NFC:
- Back in May, it was announced that Packers president and chief executive officer Mark Murphy would be passing on his titles to Ed Policy at the team’s annual shareholders meeting, per Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. That meeting occurred on Friday inside Lambeau Field. At the meeting, the team also went over the annual financial report, released the Wednesday before, per team editor Mike Spofford. Green Bay reported $83.7MM in operating profit in FY2025, a $23.6MM increase from last year. The anomalous increase was the result of an extra home game, courtesy of the 17-game schedule, showing just how impactful those extra home games are for the teams that get them.
- Lastly, the Panthers hired Benjamin Brown to serve as director of data science, according to ESPN’s analyst expert Seth Walder. Brown previously served as the NFL data science manager for PENN Entertainment and has held roles with SumerSports and Pro Football Focus, as well.
49ers To Sign CB Eli Apple
The 49ers already entered training camp working to establish their cornerbacks group after losing Charvarius Ward and Isaac Yiadom in the offseason. The position took another hit two days ago when returning starter Renardo Green left practice early with an apparent hamstring injury, per Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. An update today from Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports reported that head coach Kyle Shanahan expects that Green will be out at least until the team’s second preseason game, meaning about a two-week absence. 
Down another body in the room, San Francisco moved to sign veteran cornerback Eli Apple, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who was informed by Apple’s agent, Kevin Conner. Apple is now set to join his seventh NFL team as he heads into his 10th year of play. His new deal with the 49ers will be a one-year agreement.
Apple hasn’t held a full-time starting role in the NFL since his two-year stint with the Bengals ended after the 2022 season. 2023 saw Apple signed by the Dolphins around this same time of year when Jalen Ramsey suffered a knee injury in training camp. He appeared in 10 games with Miami, starting four. Last year, Apple went unsigned into the regular season and eventually signed with the Chargers after Asante Samuel Jr. went down. The cycle continues for a third year in a row as Apple lands with a team late because of an injury.
One of the reasons Apple is rarely getting long-term deals is his own injury history. Apple has never played in every game of a full season in his nine-year career. His best attempts were in the final of two years of his rookie contract (split between New York and New Orleans), in which he started and played in 30 of a possible 32 games, and his two years in Cincinnati, in which started 30 of 31 appearances out of a possible 34 games. Overall, he’s missed 30 games due to injury over the years, including most recently, the Chargers’ last six game of 2024.
Regardless, the Niners are turning to the veteran to help fill out a thin room in training camp. As it stood before the injury to Green, Deommodore Lenoir was set to start opposite Green on the outside, after spending most of 2024 in the slot. Lenoir’s nickelback role was likely to be filled by third-round Western Kentucky rookie Upton Stout, who frequented the position for the Hilltoppers last year. Behind them, free agent additions Tre Brown, Siran Neal, and Dallis Flowers added depth to the group, along with a few less-experienced incumbents like Tre Avery, Darrell Luter Jr., and Chase Lucas. Apple’s experience should help the group this summer and give him a chance to stick into the season, even after Green’s return.
In addition to adding Apple, the 49ers also saw the return to the field of wide receiver Ricky Pearsall. The second-year receiver had been placed on the active/physically unable to perform list a little over a week ago with a hamstring injury, but he’s now passed his physical and returned to practice, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/27/25
Here are Sunday’s minor transactions to close out the weekend:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: CB Steven Gilmore
Buffalo Bills
- Activated from active/NFI list: TE Dawson Knox, WR Laviska Shenault
Detroit Lions
- Released (with injury designation): CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver
Green Bay Packers
- Activated from active/NFI list: RB Amar Johnson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Activated from active/PUP list: T Jawaan Taylor, TE Tre Watson
New York Jets
- Claimed off waivers (from Dolphins): CB Ryan Cooper Jr.
- Waived: P Kai Kroeger
Arizona is adding the brother of Stephon Gilmore after placing two cornerbacks on injured reserve earlier today. Thomas-Oliver was released by the Lions a day after suffering a hamstring injury in practice. He had returned to practice only three days ago from the active/non-football injury list.
Vikings, S Josh Metellus Agree To Extension
Vikings safety Josh Metellus was heading into the 2025 NFL season on a contract year with a $6.54MM cap hit. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the team has secured the defender long term by signing him to a three-year, $36MM extension.
Adding onto the end of his current deal, the extension keeps Metellus under contract through the 2028 season. Per Schefter, Metellus’ new deal comes with $25MM in guaranteed money and has a potential maximum value of $42MM with contract incentives. 
Coming out of Minnesota’s 15-man 2020 draft class, Metellus is one of three players drafted by the team that year to still be on the roster — the other two being Justin Jefferson and backup offensive lineman Blake Brandel.
For much of his first two seasons, Metellus was a special teamer, coming off the bench for significant snaps for the first time in the final game of his sophomore campaign. He played a similar role in 2022, but three Harrison Smith absences allowed Metellus to showcase what he could contribute as a starter. He looked good in his first glimpses with the first team, catching an interception in the first start of his career.
Already, in 2022, the Vikings were beginning to see the potential and versatility Metullus offered to the defense. Most of his snaps came at safety, but he spent about 40 percent of his time on the field roaming into the box or the slot or, occasionally, lining up as an edge rusher or outside cornerback. In 2023, Minnesota made a call that it could no longer allow starters Smith and Camryn Bynum to keep Metellus off the field.
All three safeties started 17 games that season and led the team in defensive snaps played. Bynum worked most often as the deep safety, Smith split his time between the defensive outfield and the box, and Metellus roamed the slot, the box, and the edge in near equal quantities. In fact, aside from outside cornerback, where he logged 29 snaps, Metellus’ least seen position was safety (55 snaps). Playing all over the field in the first year of a two-year, $8MM extension and his first year as a full-time starter, Metellus delivered all over the field. His 116 total tackles were second to only Bynum, and he added 2.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hits, an interception returned for 43 yards, five passes defensed, and four forced fumbles to boot.
In 2024, Metellus logged fewer starts, but his usage remained the same as he continued to share the field with Smith and Bynum in equal shares. The 2024 season saw Metellus diversify a little less, spending under 100 snaps at edge, outside corner, and safety, but he spent about half his snaps in the box and a quarter in the slot. Once again, he finished second on the team with 103 total tackles, and he logged two tackles for loss, six quarterback hits, two interceptions, five passes defensed, and one forced fumble for good measure.
In 2025, the Vikings will be without their deep safety after Bynum signed a four-year, $60MM deal with the Colts. The backups behind Metellus and Smith — Jay Ward, Theo Jackson, and Mishael Powell — are all young and inexperienced, so Metellus may be making a move back into a more traditional safety spot. Smith will likely take back a free safety role, after playing a bit more strong safety when Bynum was in the picture, while Metellus works as the primary strong safety, allowing him to drift up into the box or slot when necessary.
The idea of an extension for Metellus and outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel was first floating around the rumor mill in the days after the Super Bowl. Van Ginkel got his done in May, and after the team addressed an extension for tight end Josh Oliver in June, Metellus became the next focus.
Metellus had missed the first two days of practice in training camp, and while that now looks like he was pushing for an extension, head coach Kevin O’Connell assured the media that they “were being honest” about an ankle injury being the reason for his absences, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. Regardless, a little payday should make him feel better. He’s expected to sit out Saturday practices and return to the field on Monday under his new contract. He’s already outperformed his sixth-round draft slot and his $8MM extension; now, the Vikings will be hoping he can take another step and outperform this one, as well.
Texans RB Joe Mixon Expected To Miss Multiple Weeks Of Camp
Three days ago, the Texans placed running back Joe Mixon on the active/non-football injury list. At the time, reports claimed that the “medical outlook” was positive for Mixon and that the team would likely ease him into training camp, gradually increasing his activity before shutting him down for his eventual regular season debut. According to a report this afternoon from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, though, Mixon is expected to be out for “an extended period of time with a frustrating foot injury.” 
Early last season, Mixon missed three games with a foot/ankle injury. He hadn’t participated in most of the preseason because of a quadriceps issue, yet he still took off for 159 yards and a touchdown in the team’s season opener. After the Week 2 injury derailed him a bit, he still came back from injury and rattled off four straight 100-yard rushing performances en route to a Pro Bowl bid. His effectiveness took a dip near the end of the season, but he was right back at it in the postseason, putting up 194 rushing yards and two touchdowns in two postseason matchups.
Jane Slater of 105.3 The FAN posted that Mixon reportedly “injured his right foot/ankle twice last year” and that today’s report comes after a third injury to it. KPRC 2’s Aaron Wilson clarifies that the third injury occurred in the offseason when Mixon was working out on his own — hence the NFI placement — and that there have been no setbacks. He reports that Mixon has made progress since the injury, regained mobility, and that his medical outlook and goal to be ready for a Week 1 contest with the Rams remain unchanged.
Based on his 2024 season, the injury appears to be nagging and consistent but something he can potentially play through. If Wilson’s report is accurate, Houston will likely be careful with its lead back, easing him into drills and practices before potentially holding him out of another preseason. Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports adds that, despite Mixon’s absence from practice, the Texans are being similarly “judicious” with the usage of free agent addition Nick Chubb.