- The Jets just got cornerback Corey Ballentine off waivers from the Giants, and they weren’t the only AFC teams interested. The Ravens and Texans also put in claims for the young corner, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. The Texans are toward the top of the waiver wire themselves, but they couldn’t beat out the winless Jets. Ballentine was drafted in the sixth-round by the Giants in 2019. He started two games as a rookie and the first two games of this season before quickly falling out of favor with Joe Judge’s staff.
Here are Saturday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Activated from IR: G J.R. Sweezy
- Promoted: DL Trevon Coley, RB D.J. Foster, CB Jace Whittaker
- Placed on IR: DL Leki Fotu
Atlanta Falcons
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DE Dante Fowler
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted: S Geno Stone
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from IR: S Juston Burris
- Promoted: RB Rodney Smith
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: T Quinn Bailey, TE Troy Fumagalli, LB Josh Watson
Detroit Lions
- Promoted: DT Frank Herron, T Dan Skipper
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Activated from IR: S Andrew Wingard
- Promoted: S Doug Middleton, LB Joe Giles-Harris, WR Terry Godwin, OL K.C. McDermott
- Waived: DL Caraun Reid
- Placed on IR: S Josh Jones
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: CB Quenton Meeks
Los Angeles Rams
- Activated from IR: S Jordan Fuller, OL Joseph Noteboom
Minnesota Vikings
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LS Austin Cutting
New England Patriots
- Activated from IR: OL Jermaine Eluemunor
- Promoted: LB Terez Hall, LB Cassh Maluia
- Waived: DL Nick Thurman
- Placed on IR: LB Shilique Calhoun
Philadelphia Eagles
- Promoted: CB Michael Jacquet, DT T.Y. McGill, TE Caleb Wilson
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: S Antoine Brooks
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: OL Kevin Dotson
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: TE Daniel Helm, S Jared Mayden
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Cyril Grayson, WR Jaydon Mickens
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: LB Jordan Kunaszyk
- Iman Marshall tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com reports. He becomes the second Ravens defensive back to test positive in two weeks, following Marlon Humphrey. The latter’s positive test resulted in several Baltimore defenders missing each Ravens practice last week. Marshall, however, cannot play this season due to the Ravens placing him on IR in August. The Ravens announced the infected player, without identifying him, had no high-risk close contacts among the team. Humphrey is no longer on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list.
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Devon Kennard, CB Byron Murphy
- Placed on IR: Kevin Peterson
Baltimore Ravens
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Marlon Humphrey
Carolina Panthers
- Promoted: RB Reggie Bonnafon
- Placed on IR: LB Adarius Taylor
Cleveland Browns
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: QB Baker Mayfield
Dallas Cowboys
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DL Tyrone Crawford
- Claimed off waivers from Colts: DL Ron’Dell Carter
Denver Broncos
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: G Graham Glasgow
Indianapolis Colts
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Matthew Adams
Kansas City Chiefs
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Mecole Hardman
Miami Dolphins
- Placed on IR: WR Preston Williams (story)
New York Jets
- Claimed off waivers from Giants: CB Corey Ballentine
Here are the NFL’s recent practice squad moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: Nate Brooks, T R.J. Prince
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from practice squad injured list: RB Reggie Bonnafon
- Signed: DT Woodrow Hamilton
- Released: K Taylor Bertolet, DT Mike Panasiuk
Chicago Bears
- Signed: OL Eric Kush, QB Kyle Sloter
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: CB Stephen Denmark, TE Kyle Markway, C Javon Patterson
- Released: C Evan Brown, T Timon Parris, CB Prince Smith
- Placed on practice squad injured list: WR Ryan Switzer
Denver Broncos
- Signed: TE Troy Fumagalli, C Jon Halapio
Detroit Lions
- Signed: TE Khari Lee
Houston Texans
- Signed: LB Curtis Bolton, LB Kendall Futrell
- Released: WR Devin Smith
- Placed on practice squad injured list: LB Davin Bellamy
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: WR Rico Gafford, S Rashaan Gaulden
Los Angeles Rams
- Released: C Cohl Cabral
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: CB Cordrea Tankersley
New England Patriots
- Signed: TE Dylan Cantrell, TE David Wells
- Released: DT Ryan Glasgow
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: DT Treyvon Hester
- Released: RB Adrian Killins
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: WR Chris Finke
Seattle Seahawks
- Released: DE DeMarkus Acy
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: DL Miles Brown, CB Greg Mabin, OL Daniel Munyer, K Giorgio Tavecchio
Tramon Williams‘ Ravens visit last week will produce a deal, and the timing of the parties’ initial meeting will allow for the veteran cornerback to be in uniform Sunday night.
The longtime Packers defender signed with the Ravens on Tuesday. Williams visited the team six days ago and began taking COVID-19 tests, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec (on Twitter). That will put him on track not only to be in uniform against the Patriots on Sunday but to begin practicing with his new team when the Ravens begin their Pats preparations Wednesday.
This will be Williams’ 14th NFL season. He spent 10 prior campaigns in Green Bay, working as a key Packer defender from 2007-14 and over the past two seasons — after stays in Cleveland and Arizona. Williams, 37, has started 153 career games — including 23 in his second Packers stint — and will reclaim his place as the league’s oldest active cornerback.
Baltimore remains without All-Pro Marlon Humphrey, who tested positive for the coronavirus. This affected the Ravens’ practices last week, with several defenders missing most or all of those workouts. The Ravens are planning ahead this week.
To make room on their 53-man roster, the Ravens placed cornerback Khalil Dorsey on IR.
Ravens cornerback Tavon Young agreed to a reworked deal, as ESPN.com’s Field Yates tweets. Now, $2.514MM of his 2020 base salary will be converted to a signing bonus. Meanwhile, his non-guaranteed $5.5MM base salary in 2021 was reduced to a guaranteed $2.65MM. 
It seems like a reasonable tradeoff for Young, who has been plagued by injuries. The Temple product missed all of last season with a neck injury in 2019. This year, a Week 2 injury forced him out of action. He also missed the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL, so his injury history is now pretty extensive.
Young started eleven games as a rookie in 2016, then played a big role in 2018 again while making six starts. His contributions as the team’s slot corner earned him a three-year, $25.8MM extension in February of 2019. To date, he’s played just two games since inking deal, which runs through the 2022 season.
The Ravens, meanwhile, have picked up some much-needed cap space in the wake of their recent big-money extensions.
It looks like the Ravens will be without a key part of their defense for the time being. Defensive tackle Calais Campbell has a calf strain that will likely sidelined him for multiple games, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.
Fortunately, Rapoport reports that there are no structural issues and it’s not considered a particularly major injury at this time. Campbell left yesterday’s win over the Colts very early with the injury. In a separate video tweet, Rapoport says it’s expected to be 2-3 weeks, with a “worst case scenario” of four weeks. Calf issues can linger, so Baltimore will likely be cautious with the big fella. The veteran is 34 now, so there’s no reason for him to rush back from an injury like this.
The Ravens made a deal with Jacksonville to trade for Campbell back in March, and signed him to a two-year extension worth up to $27MM immediately after. That deal will run through next season and since almost all of it is guaranteed, he’ll almost certainly be back in 2021 no matter what.
Campbell has remained very productive even at his relatively advanced age, racking up 24 tackles, four sacks, and a whopping six passes defended in only seven-plus games. He’s made the Pro Bowl in five of the past six seasons, and was a first-team All-Pro in 2017. He’s also a vocal leader in the locker room and on the field, so his absence will be felt in more ways than one.
The trade deadline is in the rear view mirror, but teams are still keeping a watchful eye on their salary cap figures. For contenders, the available dollars can be used for late-season signings. For all clubs, a portion of the unspent dollars can be rolled over into future seasons, giving them a larger budget to work with in the first wave of free agency.
Here are the most recent figures for each team, via Over The Cap:
- Cleveland Browns – $31MM
- New York Jets – $30.4MM
- Dallas Cowboys — $28MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars– $26.3MM
- Philadelphia Eagles– $23.9MM
- Washington Football Team – $23.3MM
- New England Patriots – $21.8MM
- Denver Broncos – $19.8MM
- Miami Dolphins – $15.6MM
- Detroit Lions – $14.2MM
- Cincinnati Bengals– $12.3MM
- Indianapolis Colts – $10.7MM
- Los Angeles Chargers — $8.4MM
- New York Giants – $8MM
- Chicago Bears – $7.6MM
- Houston Texans – $7.5MM
- Los Angeles Rams – $6.9MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers – $6.9MM
- Green Bay Packers – $6.7MM
- Arizona Cardinals– $6.2MM
- New Orleans Saints – $6MM
- Las Vegas Raiders – $6MM
- Kansas City Chiefs – $5.7MM
- Carolina Panthers – $5.5MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $5.3MM
- Tennessee Titans – $4.6MM
- Minnesota Vikings – $3.8K
- San Francisco 49ers – $3.7MM
- Seattle Seahawks – $3.3MM
- Baltimore Ravens – $3.3MM
- Buffalo Bills – $3MM
- Atlanta Falcons – $1.8MM
Let’s round up a few injury-related items from around the league.
- Raiders OT Trent Brown is back on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says Brown is expected to miss at least a month of action (Twitter link).
- Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports confirms a report from several days ago that 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo will not require surgery on his injured ankle, but the 29-year-old signal-caller is expected to miss at least a month (Twitter link). The injury further clouds Garoppolo’s uncertain future in San Francisco.
- Titans edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney is out for today’s game against the Bears. He is dealing with a meniscus issue and may ultimately opt for surgery.
- The Browns have a bye this week, and next time they’re on the field, they hope to be rejoined by Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb (Twitter link via Rapoport). Chubb has been dealing with an MCL injury, and though Kareem Hunt and D’Ernest Johnson have played reasonably well in his absence, getting Chubb back will be a big boost to Cleveland’s playoff push.
- Some may be wondering if WR Odell Beckham has already played his last game for the Browns, as he will miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear and has never really embraced Cleveland. Kim Jones of WFAN reports that OBJ will undergo surgery to repair the ACL on Tuesday (Twitter link).
- Ravens RB Mark Ingram left Baltimore’s game against the Eagles several weeks ago, and he still has not returned to action. Rapoport says Ingram is dealing with a high-ankle sprain (Twitter link), which explains the multi-week absence. Ingram has been ruled out for today’s game against the Colts, but younger backs Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins may be the better options anyway.
- When the Eagles return to their facility following this week’s bye, they expect to have RB Miles Sanders back, and they believe WR Alshon Jeffery will be a full participant in practice (Twitter link via Rapoport).