Browns Sign QB Tyler Huntley
With a few minor injuries hampering their quarterback room, the Browns added some depth on Monday by reuniting with Tyler Huntley, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The move is now official.
Kenny Pickett has been nursing a hamstring injury for the last week, and Dillon Gabriel was limited with a similar issue on Monday, per Schefter. Shedeur Sanders has also been experiencing shoulder soreness, so veteran Joe Flacco entered the day as the team’s only fully healthy passer.
The Browns’ first preseason matchup is scheduled for Friday night in Carolina, and neither Pickett nor Gabriel are expected to play, per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. The 40-year-old Flacco played all of six preseason snaps last year, and pushing Sanders to play most of the game with a sore shoulder seems like an unnecessary risk.
Enter Huntley, who spent the 2024 offseason and preseason with the Browns but did not make their 53-man roster. He briefly signed with the Ravens’ practice squad before finishing the year with five starts in Miami. His familiarity with the Browns’ offense will allow him to serve as a camp arm and absorb preseason snaps as the rest of the team’s quarterbacks get back to full health.
He is not expected to factor into the starting competition, which has swung back-and-forth between Flacco and Pickett this summer. Though, this does bring about an interesting development due to Cleveland’s crowded depth chart. Huntley has gone from making five starts a Tua Tagovailoa relief — after making a name for himself as a Lamar Jackson fill-in — to being what could amount to a camp body. It will be interesting to see if this reunion amounts to more than that, as Huntley is still just 27 and has made 14 career starts. The Browns had carried him through past waivers last year but ultimately cut bait shortly after. The Cardinals worked out Huntley in April but did not sign him.
Flacco is atop the Browns’ first unofficial depth chart as Pickett’s absence in camp has set him back in his quest to win the starting job, something he acknowledged this weekend.
“I’m trying to get back out there as fast as possible,” said Pickett (via Cabot). “I’ve never had a soft tissue injury like this, so really a first-time experience in my career.”
The former Steelers first-round pick is still ahead of his rookie teammates, with Gabriel listed as the third-stringer and Sanders behind him. That ranking reflects the snap distribution between the two rookies. Gabriel gets on the field before Sanders and takes more reps, but the latter has been more accurate this summer, according to The Athletic’s Zac Jackson. While neither is expected to start early in the season, Jackson suggested that Sanders’ rapid development could get him on the field later in the year.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/4/25
NFL teams are continuing to adjust their rosters to weather injuries and add depth with preseason games kicking off later this week. Here are the latest minor moves from around the league:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: OL Dan Feeney
- Waived: DE Kameron Cline, OL Rush Reimer
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: TE Mitch Van Vooren, RB Trayveon Williams
- Waived: OT Julian Pearl
Detroit Lions
- Signed: CB Luq Barcoo, CB D.J. Miller
- Waived/injured: RB Kye Robichaux
- Placed on IR: S Dan Jackson
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: CB Corey Ballentine
- Released: CB Gregory Junior
Houston Texans
- Activated from active/PUP list: RB Dameon Pierce
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: OL Tremayne Anchrum, DL Austin Johnson
- Waived: WR J.J. Jones
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DL Nesta Jade Silvera
- Waived/injured: DL Josh Fuga
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: TE Chris Myarick
- Placed on IR: TE Jalin Conyers
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: TE Nick Vannett
- Waived: OT Marcellus Johnson
New England Patriots
- Activated from active/PUP list: OL Vederian Lowe
New York Giants
- Signed: LB K.J. Cloyd, RB Jonathan Ward
- Waived/injured: RB Rushawn Baker
- Placed on IR: LB Ty Summers
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: LB Michael Dowell, LS Zach Triner
- Placed on IR: S AJ Finley
- Waived: LB Seth Coleman
The Lions’ additions were likely a result of a shoulder injury to second-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw. Head coach Dan Campbell said (via team writer Tim Twentyman) that “it’s going to be a while, at best” until Rakestraw returns to the field.
Ballentine returns to Green Bay, where he spent the last three seasons, after a brief stint in Indianapolis this offseason. He started six games and played 488 snaps for the Packers in 2023, but primarily contributed on special teams in 2022 and 2024.
The Giants are dealing with a number of injuries in their running back room, per The Athletic’s Dan Duggan. Only Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary, and Darius Miller are healthy, and the first two may not play much in the preseason. New York worked out a number of running backs on Monday, including Myles Gaskin and Isaiah Spiller (via KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson), but Ward impressed enough to join the squad moving forward.
Finley went down with a knee injury at training camp that is believed to be serious, pending additional tests, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson. Triner, meanwhile, will fill in for Seahawks third-year long snapper Chris Stoll, who is dealing with a back issue, according to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times.
Bills WR Khalil Shakir To Miss Time
Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir is expected to miss four to five weeks due to a high ankle sprain suffered last Friday, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.
Head coach Sean McDermott said on Sunday (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter) that Shakir was considered “week to week.”
The fourth-year wideout stepped up after the departure of Stefon Diggs last offseason, leading Buffalo with 76 receptions and 821 receiving yards in 2024 and earning himself a four-year, $53MM extension this offseason.
With little more than five weeks until the Bills’ regular season debut against the Ravens, Shakir’s recovery will have to go smoothly for him to play in Week 1. He was the Bills’ most active pass-catcher in both matchups vs. Baltimore last season. He caught 10 of his 12 targets for 129 across the two contests, the latter of which was a playoff win that sent Buffalo to the AFC Championship Game.
The Bills have a number of options to fill Shakir’s role in the slot during his absence. Veteran Curtis Samuel will likely be the next man up after rotating into the slot in Buffalo last year, and offseason signings Elijah Moore and Josh Palmer bring some experience there as well.
The Bills could also roll out more two tight end formations with Dalton Kincaid or Dawson Knox split into the slot. Still, Shakir’s injury doesn’t seem so significant that it will require major adjustments to Buffalo’s offense this season.
Broncos Extend DL Zach Allen
10:31pm: Per OvertheCap.com, $44.25MM of Allen’s new extension is fully guaranteed at signing, including a $24MM signing bonus, his base salaries in 2025 ($2.49MM) and 2026 ($16.49MM), and per game roster bonuses in those seasons that will total $510K and $765K, respectively. $15.75MM will become fully guaranteed in March 2026, and the rest will guarantee in March of the following year.
9:31am: The Broncos have agreed to terms with defensive lineman Zach Allen on a four-year, $102MM extension, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The team has since announced the extension.
It was reported back in March that Allen was seeking an extension in the range of $25MM per year. His new contract meets that goal at a $25.5MM APY that ranks third among the NFL’s interior defensive lineman, per OverTheCap.
Allen’s deal also includes $69.5MM in guaranteed money, per Schefter, which would also rank third at the position in terms of total guarantees. If that number represents fully guaranteed money, it would set a new record for interior defensive linemen.
The 27-year-old may not be a household name, but his payday is appropriate after an excellent 2024 season. Allen recorded 8.5 sacks and 15 tackles for loss as a key anchor for a Broncos defense that finished third in points allowed and seventh in yards allowed. He also recorded 75 quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), a mark that led all interior defensive lineman and trailed only four edge rushers.
Allen earned a second-team All-Pro selection for his efforts last season, the first such recognition of his career. That gave him the leverage to seek an extension as he entered the final year of the three-year, $45.75MM deal that brought him to Denver in 2023 in the first place. Allen’s new deal represents a raise of more than $10MM per year and will keep him under contract through the 2028 season.
The former Cardinals third-round pick effectively replaced Dre’Mont Jones in Denver, as the two relocated (Jones to Seattle) on Day 1 of the 2023 legal tampering period. Allen has been a lifer in DC Vance Joseph‘s scheme, arriving in Arizona during Joseph’s first offseason running the Cards’ defense. Weeks after Joseph returned to Denver, Allen followed. After a woeful start to the 2023 season, the Broncos’ defense took big steps forward in 2024.
Helping the Broncos to a third-place finish in scoring defense, Allen’s 40 QB hits led the NFL and represented a top-10 mark for any season in the 2020s. That surge solidified a midcareer breakout, placing Allen in prime position to capitalize. The Broncos will go through with another reward, locking up two extension candidates this week.
The Broncos, who got veteran wideout Courtland Sutton‘s extension done on Monday, will likely now turn their attention to negotiations with fourth-year edge rusher Nik Bonitto. Allen’s primary partner in the trenches, John Franklin-Myers, has also been pursuing a new contract after a career-high 7.0 sacks last year, but the Broncos have not engaged in contract talks to date. After signing one defensive lineman to a nine-figure deal, Denver seems unlikely to give Franklin-Myers a market-level extension.
FA QBs Asked Giants Not To Target Position In 1st Round
Kirk Cousins‘ experience in Atlanta seems to have served as a warning to other veteran quarterbacks around the league.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen revealed this week that multiple free agent QBs said they wouldn’t sign in New York unless the team promised not to take a quarterback in the first round of April’s draft.
Last offseason, the Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year, $180MM contract in free agency before using the No. 9 pick of the 2024 draft on Michael Penix. Cousins was surprised by the move and later revealed that he may have taken a different approach to free agency had he known of the team’s plans. Injury and turnover woes knocked the veteran out of the starting lineup late in the 2024 season and Penix replaced him as the team’s new franchise quarterback. Unable to secure a release or trade, Cousins is now set to spend the 2025 season as Penix’s backup.
Understandably, free agent quarterbacks looking for a new home this offseason wanted to avoid a similar situation. The Giants wouldn’t make any promises.
“We would not guarantee anybody that we wouldn’t draft a quarterback,” said Schoen in an appearance on WFAN (via Awful Announcing). For some free agents, that was a nonstarter, but Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll had yet to finish their evaluations of the 2025 draft class.
“When we sign these guys, it’s mid-March,” explained Schoen. “Daboll hadn’t seen some of the [prospects] throw yet, in-person. We hadn’t had private workouts with them. Some of them hadn’t been in our building yet.”
When Schoen and Daboll were hired in 2022, they inherited Daniel Jones from Dave Gettleman‘s time as GM. The Giants’ new regime declined to pick up Jones’ fifth-year option for the 2023 season, but Jones immediately put up the best season of his career and forced the team to give him an extension. After moving on from the 2019 first-rounder last year, Schoen and Daboll finally had a chance to pick their own quarterback prospect to draft and develop. They didn’t want to give up that opportunity to sign a veteran who would only serve as a short-term starter.
“We’re not going to promise that, because I don’t know who’s going to be there, we don’t know how the draft is going to unfold,” explained Schoen. “I’m never going to do that promise.”
The Giants ultimately agreed to terms with Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston in March before selecting Jaxson Dart with a first-round pick a month later. Wilson is expected to start this season with Winston serving as his primary backup and Dart learning the ropes from his veteran teammates.
Bengals To Sign TE Noah Fant
The Bengals are expected to sign veteran tight end Noah Fant, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The Bengals released undrafted rookie Kole Taylor in a corresponding move, per Schefter.
Fant was released by the Seahawks on July 20 and quickly lined up a visit with the Bengals. Fant left Cincinnati without a deal and met with the Saints and the Dolphins but quickly circled back to the opportunity to catch passes from Joe Burrow.
Fant will now join a Bengals tight end room led by Mike Gesicki and Drew Sample. The former first-round pick will likely be an upgrade over 31-year-old Tanner Hudson, who has been a reliable, inexpensive third tight end in Cincinnati with 58 catches for 506 yards over the last two years. Fant nearly hit those numbers last year alone with a total of 1,400 yards over his last three years in Seattle and a career average of 550 yards per season.
The six-year veteran also brings some versatility to the tight end position that the Bengals currently lack. Sample is largely an inline blocker while Gesicki played almost all of his snaps last year in the slot or out wide. Fant can do all three, which will give head coach Zac Taylor plenty of ways to get him on the field.
The Bengals will be Fant’s third team after he was drafted by the Broncos in 2019 and sent to the Seahawks as part of the Russell Wilson trade in 2022. Fant then became the first Seahawk to see his fifth-year option picked up, which the team did upon acquiring him in 2022. The Seahawks still leaned mostly on D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett during Fant’s first two years with the team, but they still re-signed him to a two-year, $21MM deal in 2024. Seattle then drafted Elijah Arroyo in this year’s second round; the team will lean on the Miami product after releasing Fant just before training camp.
The former No. 20 pick may not be an elite receiving threat, having never eclipsed 700 yards in a season, but he has been consistent; Fant’s 3,305 career receiving yards are the 10th-most among tight ends since he entered the NFL. After featuring mostly low-octane tight end contributors following Tyler Eifert‘s slew of injuries, Cincinnati has added two receiving threats over the past two offseasons. The team re-signed Gesicki (three years, $25.5MM) in March and will pair him with an intriguing late-summer addition.
Cowboys, CB DaRon Bland Engaging In Extension Talks
We knew back in April that the Cowboys were eyeing extensions for offensive lineman Tyler Smith, cornerback DaRon Bland, tight end Jake Ferguson, and kicker Brandon Aubrey.
Ferguson got his this weekend, and Smith switched up his representation after the team picked up his fifth-year option. While, so far, it’s been crickets for Aubrey, Bland told the media this week that his agent has been in talks with the team on a new deal, per Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS.
“Definitely Dallas is always where I want to be,” said Bland (via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News). “Hopefully we can get it done.”
The 2022 fifth-rounder is looking to cash in on a cornerback market that grew to $30MM this offseason. Though he may replace Jourdan Lewis as Dallas’ primary slot corner, he will likely want to be paid as one of the league’s top outside cornerbacks.
He entered the Cowboys’ starting lineup midway through his rookie year and led the defense with five interceptions. Bland then led the NFL in 2023 with nine interceptions, 209 return yards, and five pick-sixes on his way to first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors, as well as a fifth-place finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He then took a step back in 2024; after recovering from a training camp stress fracture, Bland logged zero interceptions in seven games and allowed a 105.7 passer rating when targeted.
If recent negotiations in Dallas are any indication, Bland may have to wait a while for his payday. Last year, the Cowboys extended CeeDee Lamb late in training camp and Dak Prescott just before Week 1, and the team still hasn’t signed Micah Parsons to a new deal. Bland has another year left on his rookie contract, which would allow contract talks to continue until next March (and potentially longer if Dallas uses the franchise tag).
However, Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones pushed back on the idea that the Cowboys draw out negotiations with their top players.
“I don’t think there is a pattern here,” said Jones (via The Athletic’s Jon Machota). “We don’t drag deals out. We do deals when there’s an opportunity to do a deal. Certainly, no one knows what goes on internally with a particular negotiation. Sometimes players and agents aren’t ready to pull the trigger until they see other cards played.”
Jones went on to say that he does not want to overpay just to get a deal done early, especially with players who want to remain in Dallas. Bland seems to fall into that category, so he may have to wait his turn to put pen to paper unless he accepts a team-friendly deal.
Dolphins CB Kader Kohou Out For Season
The Dolphins’ cornerback situation keeps getting worse. The latest development will continue to differentiate this year’s group from the cadre Miami deployed in 2024.
Last week, Artie Burns went down with a season-ending ACL tear. Today, head coach Mike McDaniel announced that fourth-year cornerback Kader Kohou suffered the same injury in Saturday’s practice, per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. Kohou will undergo surgery and is expected to spend the entire 2025 season on injured reserve.
The 26-year-old is Miami’s only returning starter at cornerback after the team released Kendall Fuller and traded Jalen Ramsey this offseason. Kohou was expected to move outside in 2025 after playing the vast majority of his snaps in the slot in his first three seasons. That job will now be up for grabs among the several young corners on Miami’s roster in what appears to be a wide-open competition.
Second-year UDFA Storm Duck is the only rostered player with multiple starts at cornerback for the Dolphins. McDaniel has also made it clear that the team is looking for more out of 2023 second-rounder Cam Smith, who hasn’t logged a single start in his first two years with just 153 total defensive snaps. Third-year corner Ethan Bonner has primarily played special teams in his seven career appearances and seems unlikely to seriously factor into the starting cornerback competition.
The Dolphins didn’t invest premium resources into the position this offseason, but they still made two veteran additions to their cornerback room. Jack Jones, who started 17 games for the Raiders in 2024, will have a shot at earning a starting job on the boundary, especially after Kohou’s injury. Longtime Steelers and Bengals nickel Mike Hilton should be the favorite to occupy the same role in Miami.
This represents brutal timing for Kohou, who had emerged as a UDFA to be a Dolphins regular during a time of uncertainty at the position. Arriving during the Xavien Howard–Byron Jones experiment, Kohou stepped in as an immediate starter in 2022 and played a key role as the Dolphins moved on from Jones (via a post-June 1 cut) in 2023. Ramsey played only half the season that year, and after the Dolphins designated Howard a post-June 1 release in 2024, Kohou logged 13 more starts. A host of unknowns are now in place following Kohou’s setback.
Kohou logged a 76% snap rate in the 13 games in which he was healthy, remaining a fixture under Anthony Weaver. Pro Football Focus assigned him a mid-pack grade (57th) among CB regulars, and the Dolphins tendered him as an RFA ($3.26MM) in March. Kohou may need another one-year deal in 2026, with his contract year set to be erased. The Division II product will turn 27 in November, as this season will turn from a platform year to a lost campaign.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
Lions Not Expected To Extend Alex Anzalone
Veteran linebacker Alex Anzalone has been public about his desire for an extension with the Lions, but contract talks are not trending toward a deal, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Last week, Anzalone expressed his disappointment regarding the team’s apparent lack of interest in extending him That was followed by a reassurance from head coach Dan Campbell that negotiations were still ongoing.
Anzalone missed the first few practices of training camp due to a hamstring injury, but returned to the field on Monday with no thought of holding out. The eight-year veteran is entering the final year of a three-year deal extension signed in 2023 after leading the Lions defense with 125 tackles the season prior. He seems poised to play out his contract and hit free agency where an uncertain market awaits him.
Though he’s a respected player, Anzalone does not have the resume as Bobby Wagner or Lavonte David, who were both re-signed by their teams for $9MM this offseason. He’s also entering his age-32 season, which may make it difficult to get a multi-year deal.
The Lions have $48M in cap space, per OverTheCap, but they will want to roll as much of that as possible into 2026, when a hefty bill awaits. If Anzalone still wants to finish his career in Detroit after this season, he may need to take a below-market deal.
Colts, Bernhard Raimann Agree To Extension
The Colts are locking down left tackle Bernhard Raimann with a four-year, $100MM extension, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. The deal is now official, per a team announcement.
Raimann said last week a gap between his asking price and the Colts’ offers existed; that difference was resolved in a matter of days. In that time, the Chargers signed Rashawn Slater to a $28.5MM APY extension, which may have helped to accelerate negotiations in Indianapolis.
Raimann’s $25MM APY makes him the sixth-highest-paid offensive lineman in the league, tied with Laremy Tunsil and Lane Johnson. His contract also includes $60MM in guaranteed money; if that amount is fully guaranteed, it would be the second-most among all offensive lineman.
Regardless of the precise terms, it’s an impressive deal for the Austrian-born Raimann, a rare franchise left tackle drafted outside of the first round. That’s all the more impressive considering the fact that he converted from tight end to offensive tackle at Central Michigan in 2020 and only played 18 games at the position before going to the NFL. After a strong Combine, the Colts bet on his athletic potential and selected him in the third round (No. 77) of the 2022 draft. Raimann had an uneven start to his rookie year, but took over the left tackle job in Week 9 and never looked back.
Raimann is not a household name, due in part to his lack of Pro Bowl or All-Pro recognition. However, he has been graded as a top-10 tackle by Pro Football Focus (subscription required) over the last two years, combining with Quenton Nelson to form one of the best tackle-guard duos in the league. With a combined APY of $45MM, they are now also one of the most expensive.
The Colts now have Raimann under contract through 2029, but their future at other spots is less clear. Nelson is due for an extension next offseason and will likely receive another deal at the top of the guard market barring a significant injury or drop in play. The team hopes Tanor Bortolini can succeed Ryan Kelly, but the 2024 fourth-rounder only has five pro starts under his belt. 2024 third-rounder Matt Goncalves is moving to right guard after playing tackle in college as well as his rookie year. Braden Smith accepted a pay cut this year, which often precludes a parting of ways after the season, though Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley stands out as an exception.
Indianapolis will be hoping that its 2024 draftees can hold up in starting roles and leave right tackle as the only uncertain spot heading into 2026. Raimann is now the NFL’s highest-paid offensive lineman drafted outside of the first round, as well as one of the highest-paid foreign-born players in league history.