Today’s practice squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Baltimore Ravens
Denver Broncos
Los Angeles Rams
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
The Ravens are reeling from another blown fourth quarter lead, but the AFC North leaders are receiving good news on the health front. Head coach John Harbaugh said on Monday that running back J.K. Dobbins will return to practice this week, meaning his three-week IR return window is open. 
Dobbins missed the entire 2021 campaign with a major knee injury, and Baltimore remained cautious in bringing him back. He made his 2022 debut in Week 3, but only suited up for four games. Logging less of a workload than many would have expected, the 23-year-old saw double-digit carries in just one of those contests, however. He underwent knee surgery in October, a procedure which landed him on IR.
That led to concerns about a new injury, but the Ohio State product clarified that the latest surgery was actually a cleanup procedure stemming from the first one. He and the team aimed for the extra time off to allow him to recover in full in advance of the stretch run and postseason, where he will no doubt be a contributor on offense.
As a rookie, Dobbins posted 805 rushing yards and nine touchdowns despite not taking on the starter’s role until midseason. His 6.0 yards per carry led to considerable optimism for the tandem formed between he and veteran Gus Edwards, but he too missed all of 2021. The latter has also been limited to just three games this season as a result to a conservative return from his knee injury, as well as a hamstring ailment suffered in Week 8. The next time both Dobbins and Edwards are on the field together will be the first since the 2020 postseason, though the Ravens have still been successful on the ground this year, averaging 163 rushing yards per game (in no small part due to quarterback Lamar Jackson‘s production).
Dobbins will now join safety Marcus Williams in being designated for return. He has three weeks to be activated, or become ineligible to return this season. Baltimore will have two of their eight activations remaining assuming the pair are brought back in the near future, as the team looks to maintain its division lead.
The league’s minor moves and standard gameday elevations for Week 12:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
New York Jets
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tennessee Titans
Washington Commanders
Thanks to hindsight, we’ll occasionally find that some of the NFL’s best transactions initially went under the radar. That was the case on this date in 2018, when the Raiders signed a little-known tight end/wide receiver off the Ravens’ practice squad. Fast forward to today, and that tight end is one of the highest-paid players at his position.
On November 26, 2018, the Raiders added tight end Darren Waller off the Ravens’ practice squad.
The 2015 sixth-round pick didn’t make a whole lot of noise during his first three-plus seasons in the NFL. Baltimore initially had Waller playing as a wide receiver, and the Georgia Tech product had 12 receptions through his first two years in the league. After being slapped with a four-game suspension in 2016, Waller was hit with a full-season ban in 2017 for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
That suspension proved to be the nail in the coffin for the wideout/tight end in Baltimore. After sitting out the 2017 campaign, he was cut at the end of the 2018 preseason. He later caught on with Baltimore’s practice squad, which where he spent the first chunk of the season. With rookies Hayden Hurst and Mark Andrews and veteran Maxx Williams firmly above Waller on the depth chart, it didn’t seem like the now-pass-catching TE had much of a future in Baltimore.
Then, on November 26, the Raiders came calling. The Raiders didn’t necessarily need a TE but believed in Waller’s pass-catching ability and immediately gave him a spot on the active roster. The tight end has six catches in four games while playing behind Pro Bowler Jared Cook.
The organization’s gamble worked out. Waller exploded in 2019 with Cook out of the picture, finishing the campaign with 90 receptions for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns. He followed that up with an even better season in 2020, as Waller earned his first Pro Bowl nod after finishing with 107 catches for 1,196 yards and nine scores. 2021 was a bit of a disappointment for the tight end; he was limited to only 11 games while hauling in 55 catches for 665 yards.
Still, the Raiders were clearly convinced that Waller’s 2019/2020 performances were sustainable, and they inked him to a three-year, $51MM extension this past offseason, making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL in terms of average annual value. The 30-year-old is currently on injured reserve, and in five games this year, he’s collected only 16 catches. Considering the mounting absences and declining production, there have been some whispers that the Raiders are growing frustrated with the star.
Still, even if the Raiders grow to regret the extension they gave to Waller, there’s no denying the brilliance of the move they made on this date four years ago today.
Out since suffering a dislocated wrist in Week 5, Marcus Williams is back at Ravens practice. The team designated the free agent pickup for return Wednesday.
Baltimore has three weeks to activate Williams, who has been ticketed for a December return for a bit now. John Harbaugh said he expects the sixth-year safety to return at some point next month. Wednesday’s transaction keeps pointing Williams in that direction.
The Ravens gave Williams a five-year, $70MM contract to come over from New Orleans, where he spent 2021 as a franchise-tagged player. Baltimore loaded up at safety this offseason, adding Williams and first-round pick Kyle Hamilton. Despite Hamilton’s first-round pedigree, Geno Stone has worked as Williams’ primary replacement. Hamilton has yet to make his first start, though the Notre Dame product’s snap percentages have ticked up slightly in the games without Williams.
The prospect of the Ravens having Williams back opens the door to a veteran-laden defense forming for the stretch run. The Ravens have brought Jason Pierre-Paul and Roquan Smith into the fold this season and have accomplished vets at every position. Calais Campbell, Justin Houston, Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters also reside on a defense built to be one of the best units now.
Mike Macdonald‘s crew has not fully lived up to expectations just yet, but the group has improved since its run of early-season collapses. The Ravens have moved up to 10th in scoring defense, after shutting down struggling Saints and Panthers offenses, and have won four straight to keep their AFC North lead.
Following an injury-plagued 2021, the Ravens have most of their defensive troops healthy at this point. The team has seen Tyus Bowser debut after missing a chunk of games due to a January Achilles tear. Williams and second-round pick David Ojabo represent late-season reinforcements. The latter has yet to debut since going down with an Achilles tear during a pre-draft workout. The Ravens already activated Ojabo; they have four injury activations remaining. J.K. Dobbins also looms on the radar for a late-season activation.
The league’s minor moves leading up to gameday:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
Minnesota Vikings
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
New York Jets
Washington Commanders
J.K. Dobbins sat out the first two games of the season, started for four weeks, and then landed on injured reserve. When Dobbins was knocked out by knee surgery in mid-October, it was thought that the Ravens running back had suffered another knee injury. However, the second-year pro made it clear that the surgery was precautionary and intended to remedy lingering effects from his earlier surgery.
“I didn’t get reinjured,” Dobbins told WBJ in Baltimore (via NFL Network’s Mike Giardi on Twitter). “I didn’t hurt myself or anything. I just didn’t feel like myself… there was some stuff in my knee that was making me not feel like myself. It wasn’t bad, I could have still played … but I’d rather be 100 percent going into the playoffs towards the end of the year so I could really do what I really need to do to help the team win.”
Following a rookie campaign that saw him finish with more than 900 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns, Dobbins collected 162 yards and two touchdowns this season before landing on injured reserve. As Gus Edwards continues to nurse a hamstring injury, the Ravens have leaned on Kenyan Drake to lead the RB room.
More injury notes from around the NFL…
Marcus Williams is now eligible to return from injured reserve, but the veteran safety’s dislocated wrist pointed to a longer timetable than the four-week minimum. The Ravens do expect the free agency addition to play again this season.
John Harbaugh said (via BaltimoreRavens.com’s Clifton Brown) the team is aiming for a Williams December return. Williams has not encountered any setbacks, and a re-emergence “sometime in December” is the target. The Ravens have used four of their eight injury activations already, with rookie tight end Charlie Kolar being No. 4. J.K. Dobbins would stand to represent No. 5. Williams’ activation will limit the team’s flexibility down the stretch, but the Ravens are planning for him to be back late in the season.
The Ravens loaded up at safety this offseason, signing Williams to a five-year, $70MM deal and drafting Kyle Hamilton in the first round. Williams’ pact continued a steady run of big Ravens investments in the position, following the likes of Eric Weddle, Tony Jefferson and Earl Thomas. The wrist dislocation in Week 5, however, paused Williams’ initial Baltimore season and has led to the ex-Saint’s longest absence as a pro. Williams entered this season having missed just five games in five seasons.
Rather than dramatically increasing Hamilton’s workload, Baltimore has used Geno Stone alongside Chuck Clark in Williams’ absence. While Hamilton did clear the 50% snap barrier for the first time all season against the Saints on Monday, Stone has not missed a snap over the past three weeks. Despite coming into the season with just one start in two years, the former Ravens seventh-round pick has fit in on a defense full of high-profile veterans. Pro Football Focus ranks both Stone and Hamilton as top-10 safeties this season.
Baltimore’s defensive production under new DC Mike Macdonald remains a bit south of where it was during most of the Don Martindale era, excluding 2021’s injury-flooded mess. The team ranks outside the top half in scoring and total defense. But Macdonald’s unit turned in a strong effort in New Orleans; it also has registered the league’s third-most takeaways (16) and ranks fourth in sacks (27). The Ravens now have six All-Pros (Calais Campbell, Justin Houston, Jason Pierre-Paul, Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, Roquan Smith) on their defense, with first-rounders Hamilton, Patrick Queen and Odafe Oweh also in the fold. Putting Williams back in this mix will add intrigue to Baltimore’s run at its first division title since 2019.
The Ravens expect Gus Edwards and DeSean Jackson to be good to go after their Week 10 bye, Harbaugh said. Both are battling hamstring injuries, with Jackson suffering his latest hamstring setback in his Baltimore debut.
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Los Angeles Rams
New Orleans Saints
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter), the Rams shopped Terrell Burgess prior to the trade deadline. The former third-round pick has struggled to carve out a role in the NFL, although he did get into 16 games last year (plus another four games (two starts)) en route to a Super Bowl championship. This season, Burgess has collected 11 tackles in seven games.
Here are Monday’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Detroit Lions
Las Vegas Raiders
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Lemieux has been out since September 2021. A severe knee injury paused Lemieux’s career, sidelining him after he had commandeered a starting job. The Giants drafted Lemieux in the 2020 fifth round and turned to him as a starter for much of his rookie season. But the team’s new regime addressed the interior line extensively this offseason, signing Mark Glowinski and Jon Feliciano before drafting Joshua Ezeudu and Marcus McKethan.
The Giants, however, lost McKethan for the season and are without starting left guard Ben Bredeson. The team having Lemieux and former center starter Nick Gates, who also battled back from a severe injury, back will provide some options for Brian Daboll up front. Bredeson, whom the team placed on IR last week, will be a candidate to be one of Big Blue’s injury activations later this season.