Minor NFL Transactions: 9/28/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted: CB Antonio Hamilton
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted: LB Josh Bynes
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: DT Brandon Williams
Carolina Panthers
- Promoted: C Sam Tecklenburg
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: QB Brett Rypien
- Placed on IR: LB Jonas Griffith
Green Bay Packers
- Signed off Colts’ practice squad: TE Tyler Davis
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DL Tyler Lancaster
Los Angeles Rams
- Placed on IR: LB Justin Hollins
New York Jets
- Waived: S Saquan Hampton
Philadelphia Eagles
- Placed on IR: S K’Von Wallace
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: OLB Derrek Tuszka
- Waived: LB Jamir Jones
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted: DT Robert Nkemdiche
- Waived: QB Jake Luton
Panthers Place Juston Burris On IR
The Panthers have placed Juston Burris on IR with a groin injury, per a club announcement. Fortunately, it sounds like this will be a short-term injured reserve stint, so the safety can return after a minimum of three games.
Burris suffered the injury during last Thursday’s win over the Texans. Before that, he tallied two stops, giving him ten for the season. And, in Week 2 against the Saints, he nabbed an interception, giving him six for his career.
The Panthers can turn to Sam Franklin and Sean Chandler in his absence, but it’s yet another blow to their banged up secondary. They’re already without rookie cornerback Jaycee Horn, who will be out for at least a couple of months with a broken foot. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, the Panthers are keeping their fingers crossed for Christian McCaffrey and his ailing hamstring.
In a related move, the Panthers have added Sam Tecklenburg to the 53-man roster. He’ll be eligible to play on Sunday when the 3-0 Panthers face the Cowboys.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/27/21
We’ll keep track of today’s taxi squad moves here:
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: G Mike Horton
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: K Matthew Wright
- Released: WR Phillip Dorsett (story)
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: T Blake Brandel
Panthers Won’t Put Christian McCaffrey On IR
Good news for Christian McCaffrey. Panthers head coach Matt Rhule says his injured hamstring won’t require a stint on the injured reserve list (Twitter link via Darin Gantt of the team website). 
This means that CMC could return in less than three games, which would have been the minimum stint on IR. The Panthers are hoping to avoid a repeat of last year, when the running back missed all but three games with a shoulder injury. When healthy, there are few playmakers quite like McCaffrey.
In 2019, CMC set the league on fire with 2,392 all-purpose yards and 19 touchdowns. And, through his two games-and-change this year, McCaffrey looked sharp with 52 carries for 201 yards and a touchdown, plus 16 grabs for 163 yards.
Meanwhile, cornerback Jaycee Horn will likely land on the IR list now that he’s set for surgery on his broken foot. In a best case scenario, Horn could still return towards the end of the season. In the meantime, he’ll be replaced by newcomer C.J. Henderson, a highly-touted first rounder from just last year.
Panthers Promote Rashaan Melvin
The Panthers have signed Rashaan Melvin to the active roster (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). After moving between the practice squad and the gameday roster, the veteran cornerback will dress for this week’s game. 
[RELATED: Panthers Trade For Jags’ CJ Henderson]
Melvin, 31, has appeared in two of the Panthers’ three games so far. Now, he’ll be tasked with providing depth in the wake of Jaycee Horn‘s injury. The
Melvin is now a six-team veteran, having previously played for the Ravens, Patriots, Colts, Raiders and Lions. He was on track to play for the Jaguars last season too, but he opted out during the pandemic.
His last live action came with the Lions, when he was a 12-game starter in 2019. To date, he has 40 career starts under his belt.
Melvin will be joined in the secondary by former first-round pick C.J. Henderson. Earlier today, the Panthers sent tight end Dan Arnold and a third-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange for the UF product and a fifth-round choice.
Jaguars Trade C.J. Henderson To Panthers
The Jaguars have agreed to trade former first-round pick C.J. Henderson and a fifth-round choice to the Panthers (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). In return, the Panthers will send tight end Dan Arnold and a third-round pick to the Jaguars. 
[RELATED: Panthers’ Horn To Miss Time]
Henderson will provide immediate help in the secondary, since the Panthers are going to be without Jaycee Horn for a while. Through his first three pro games, the No. 8 overall pick showed promise as he notched three tackles and one interception to his credit. Henderson, meanwhile, has struggled to find his footing as a pro.
The Jaguars’ old regime made Henderson the No. 9 overall pick in 2020. He went on to appear in just eight games, due to a reserve/COVID-19 list stint and shoulder labrum surgery. Reportedly, even when he was there, the ex-Florida Gator appeared to be disinterested at Jags practice. Still, teams were interested in acquiring him this summer, including the Saints.
With Henderson out of the picture, the Jaguars will move forward with Shaquill Griffin and Tre Herndon as their boundary corners with Chris Claybrooks in the slot. Meanwhile, Urban Meyer & Co. will focus on developing rookie second-rounder Tyson Campbell for a larger role.
On the other side of the ball, Arnold provides Trevor Lawrence with an intriguing weapon. Last year, Arnold finished with 31 grabs for 438 yards and four touchdowns for the Cardinals. He went on to sign a two-year, $6MM deal with the Panthers, but he’s seen just eleven targets through three games while rookie Tommy Tremble has gotten more of the attention.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/27/21
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Placed on IR: LB Daelin Hayes
Carolina Panthers
- Promoted: CB Rashaan Melvin (story)
Denver Broncos
- Signed (off Raiders practice squad): WR David Moore
Las Vegas Raiders
- Waived: RB Trey Ragas
New York Giants
- Signed (off WFT practice squad): G Wes Martin
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Activated off Reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Kevin Minter
This Date In Transactions History: Bills, Panthers Pull Off September Trade
On this date in 2018, we got a rare September trade. On September 25, 2018, the Bills sent offensive lineman Marshall Newhouse to the Panthers. In exchange, Buffalo received a conditional 2021 seventh-round pick.
Newhouse started 31 of 47 games for the Packers through his first three seasons in the NFL, but by the time 2018 came around, Newhouse had struggled to hold a steady gig. Still, despite brief stints with the Bengals, Giants, and Raiders, the versatile lineman found a way to stick in the lineup. This included a 2017 campaign where he started each of his 14 games in Oakland.
So, while the Bills had some depth on the offensive line, Newhouse’s ability to play both tackle and guard made him a natural target once he was let go by the Raiders. During the 2018 offseason, Newhouse joined Buffalo on a one-year deal. It looked like Newhouse had carved out a role following the trade of Cordy Glenn and the departure of Seantrel Henderson. However, through the first few weeks of the season, the offensive lineman didn’t do much behind starters Dion Dawkins and Jordan Mills. So, on this date in 2018, the Bills decided to cut their losses and move on from the veteran, shipping him off to Carolina.
Carolina also seemed to value Newhouse’s versatility, except they had a depleted depth chart and needed the veteran to play. With Daryl Williams and Matt Kalil sidelined. the hope was that their acquisition would serve as a dependable backup and fill-in behind Taylor Moton and Amini Silatolu. Newhouse ended up seeing the field for 11 games (two starts) for his new team, and after seeing time on only 14 snaps in three games with Buffalo, he got into 197 snaps with the Panthers.
The Panthers didn’t qualify for the playoffs, and Newhouse decided to move on from the organization in 2019 as he pursued a ring. He signed with the Saints during the offseason, but he didn’t make it to the regular season. He ended up spending much of the 2019 campaign with the Patriots, getting into 15 games with nine starts. However, New England was ousted in the first round. Newhouse spent the 2020 campaign with the Titans, getting into only four games.
From Buffalo’s perspective, the trade was a mixed bag. The positive: the team quickly signed Jeremiah Sirles to take Newhouse’s spot on the roster, and he ended up getting into only 12 games (with five starts) for Buffalo. The negative: while the Bills ended up receiving that conditional seventh-round pick from the Panthers, they didn’t do much with it. They used the pick on Texas Tech offensive lineman Jack Anderson, but the rookie ended up getting waived by the team and landing on their practice squad. He was snagged by the Eagles earlier this week.
It’s hard to expect a whole lot from a September trade, and in hindsight, this trade really didn’t provide much intrigue for either side. Still, you’ve got to give credit to both squads for slightly shaking up their squads so early in the season.
Panthers Work Out RB Duke Johnson
Duke Johnson is wrapping a two-visit work week. The former Browns and Texans passing-down back worked out for the Panthers on Friday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Johnson visited the 49ers on Monday.
While widespread uncertainty has gripped San Francisco’s backfield, the 49ers went in another direction. Carolina, however, will be without Christian McCaffrey for weeks due to the hamstring injury the All-Pro suffered Thursday night. Johnson could seemingly have an opportunity for a 3-0 team that now lacks a proven receiving back.
The Panthers have rookie Chuba Hubbard and former Broncos contributor Royce Freeman. The former did catch 20-plus passes in his first two seasons at Oklahoma State, but the Canadian back did drop a pass at the goal line Thursday. Freeman did not factor into the Broncos’ passing game much during his three Denver seasons.
Johnson has excelled in this role, eclipsing 400 receiving yards in his first five NFL seasons. The Jaguars cut the former third-round pick from their practice squad last week, and while the veteran resided in free agency for months after his February Texans release, multiple teams have kicked the tires on him recently.
The 28-year-old back signed a Browns extension in 2018 but saw the team’s subsequent Kareem Hunt addition lead him out of Cleveland. Johnson missed five games last season but was productive for the Texans in 2019, averaging 4.9 yards per carry and totaling 820 scrimmage yards.
Additionally, Carolina auditioned running backs Ito Smith, Dontrell Hilliard and B.J. Emmons, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Hilliard, also primarily a passing-game option, joined Johnson on the 2018 Browns. Hilliard also played in two games for the Texans last season. Three teams — the Falcons, Cardinals and Vikings — cut Smith this offseason. Smith played three seasons with the Falcons, primarily functioning as a backup.
Latest On Panthers’ Christian McCaffrey
The Panthers expect Christian McCaffrey to miss the next few weeks of action (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). On the plus side, the team not planning to put the running back on injured reserve, which means that he could miss less than three games. 
[RELATED: Surgery For Panthers’ Horn?]
McCaffrey pulled his hamstring on Thursday night and still managed to run the ball out of play before heading to the locker room. The Panthers went on to beat the Texans, but it’s a bad blow to the offense moving forward. For now, Chuba Hubbard figures to see an uptick in work.
CMC was limited to only three games in 2020 after suffering a shoulder injury. It was a disappointing setback, on the heels of his historic 2019 with 2,392 all-purpose yards and 19 touchdowns. Through two games this year, McCaffrey looked sharp with 324 yards from scrimmage off of 59 totes. The 25-year-old added another 40 total yards on nine carries before his early exit las night.
Hubbard, a rookie fourth-round pick, only saw 26 offensive snaps in Weeks 1 and 2. The team is also rostering Royce Freeman on the active roster, and they could turn to practice squad backs Rodney Smith or Spencer Brown for additional depth.
Besides CMC, the Panthers are also awaiting additional word on cornerback Jaycee Horn. They’ll know more after Horn undergoes testing today, but it sounds like he’ll need surgery on his foot. That’ll rule him out for the bulk of the season, if not the rest of the campaign.