Darron Lee

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/30/21

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here. Teams have until 3pm CT Tuesday to pare their rosters down to 53 players.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: LB Darron Lee

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/24/21

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here. Teams had until 3pm today to cut their rosters down to 80 players.

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

  • Waived: QB Kenji Bahar

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: OT Casey Tucker

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: K Ryan Succop
  • Waived/injured: OT Chidi Okeke

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Raiders Sign LB Darron Lee

A former first-round pick is heading to Las Vegas. The Raiders announced that they’ve signed linebacker Darron Lee. The team also signed cornerback De’Vante Bausby and waived cornerback T.J. Morrison.

Lee, the No. 20 pick of the 2016 draft, disappointed during his three seasons with the Jets, collecting a total of 273 tackles and four sacks in 58 games (38 starts). He won a Super Bowl ring after getting traded to the Chiefs in 2019, but he was limited to mostly a backup role during his lone season in Kansas City. He caught on with the Bills in 2020, seeing time in only a pair of games.

Lee will have an uphill battle to find snaps, as the Raiders have put in work over the past few years to revamp their linebackers depth chart. Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski will once again lead the depth chart, but Lee would still have to overcome the likes of Nicholas Morrow, Tanner Muse, and Divine Deablo for playing time.

Bausby has bounced around the league a bit since going undrafted in 2015. The 28-year-old actually ended up having a career season in 2020, collecting 21 tackles and five passes defended in 11 games with the Broncos (and briefly the Cardinals).

Morrison went undrafted out of Stony Brook in this past year’s draft. He signed with the Raiders as an undrafted free agent back in May.

Bills Place John Brown On IR, Promote Jake Kumerow

Injury issues have interfered with John Brown building on his strong 2019 season. His second Bills slate has included missed games and will now feature at least three more absences.

The Bills are placing Brown on IR. An ankle malady forced Brown to come out of Week 10’s Bills-Cardinals game. Brown already dealt with a knee injury this season, one that forced him to miss two games. He is now guaranteed to be out until at least Week 15.

Buffalo will promote wide receiver Jake Kumerow from its practice squad. After news of his season-ending injury, Cody Ford will join Brown on IR. The Bills are also promoting linebacker Darron Lee from their practice squad. Lee landed in Buffalo earlier this season.

When on the field, Brown has been fairly productive this season. The former Cardinals and Ravens deep threat has four 70-plus-yard games this season. The Bills signed Brown to a three-year, $27MM deal, and the accord preceded the ex-Division II superstar’s second 1,000-yard season as a pro. Brown, 30, caught 72 passes for 1,060 yards and six TDs in 2019, helping foster Josh Allen‘s development.

While Brown has taken an expected backseat to Stefon Diggs this season, he still represents a key component of Buffalo’s passing game. His IR placement will require Cole Beasley and rookie Gabriel Davis to play bigger roles.

Josh Norman Tests Positive For COVID-19

Nov. 15: Luckily for Norman, he is asymptomatic, as Ed Werder of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Norman understands that he cannot play today due to league protocols, but he says he feels well enough to do so. The team hopes to have him back shortly.

Nov. 14: The Bills have run into a COVID-19 issue ahead of their trip to Arizona. Josh Norman tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the team, and this will result in at least four Bills not traveling for their Week 10 game.

Norman, cornerback Levi Wallace, safety Dean Marlowe and tight end Tyler Kroft landed on Buffalo’s reserve/COVID-19 list. The latter three players — deemed as high-risk close contacts — must isolate for five days.

As of now, Sunday’s Bills-Cardinals game remains on as scheduled. The team is set to travel to Arizona later this afternoon. Defensive assistant Leonard Johnson will join the aforementioned quartet of players in not making the trip to the desert.

This is not the first time Saturday news of a Bills positive test emerged to weaken one of their position groups. Dawson Knox tested positive for COVID-19 late last month, and the Bills placed two other tight ends on their COVID list that day. The NFL did not adjust the game time of the Bills’ rematch with the Jets. The league has not changed a game time because of COVID-19 since Week 7. With virus numbers skyrocketing around the country, similar challenges to the one that prompted the NFL to move a Bills-Titans game to a Tuesday night appear on the horizon.

Norman signed a one-year, $6MM deal with the Bills — one of several ex-Panthers to rejoin Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane in Buffalo this offseason — but began the season on IR. He returned for three games but has missed the past three due to a hamstring injury. He had practiced all week and was expected to return against Arizona, however. The Bills also recalled Wallace from IR earlier this season.

They will face the Cardinals’ No. 1-ranked offense with a depleted secondary. The team will promote some reinforcements, however. The Bills elevated Daryl Worley, Darron Lee, cornerback Dane Jackson, wide receiver Jake Kumerow and safety Josh Thomas from their practice squad.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/2/20

We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Philadelphia Eagles

Washington Football Team

Bills Expected To Sign LB Darron Lee

Darron Lee has not played since the 2019 season, having begun this year with a suspension. But the Bills are looking into adding the former Jets first-round pick.

The Bills are hosting Lee for a second time, per ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). The NFL banned Lee for four games to start this season, marking the second time the once-coveted prospect has served a four-game suspension.

Lee is expected to sign with the Bills — either to an active-roster deal or practice squad agreement — soon, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Buffalo has seen starter Matt Milano bounce in and out of its lineup this season. He and Tremaine Edmunds have combined to miss four games. Both are on track to face the Patriots in Week 8, but unsigned players do not factor into the Week 8 equation anyway. UFAs must pass six COVID-19 tests six days apart before beginning practice with their new teams.

Upon being traded to the Chiefs prior to last season, Lee played in all 16 Kansas City regular-season games last year and collected a Super Bowl ring. He did not play in any of the Chiefs’ three playoff games. After being a Jets regular for three seasons, Lee played on just 14% of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps. The Ohio State alum’s best season came in 2017, when he registered 94 tackles and three sacks while playing 92% of the Jets’ defensive snaps.

NFL Suspends LB Darron Lee

Darron Lee‘s return to NFL action will have to wait until at least October. The former first-round pick has encountered another suspension.

The league handed the free agent linebacker a four-game suspension, ESPN.com’s Field Yates tweets. The Chiefs did not re-sign Lee this offseason.

This marks Lee’s second NFL ban. The league sidelined him four games for a violation of its substance-abuse policy in December 2018. Lee had started all 12 of the 2018 Jets’ games leading up to that penalty. However, the Jets cut their losses via trade in the following offseason.

After failing to justify the Jets’ first-round investment, Lee made some contributions to the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LIV run. Kansas City acquired Lee for a sixth-round pick and featured him in all 16 regular-season games. The Ohio State alum made 31 tackles last season. Lee, however, did not play during the Chiefs’ postseason slate.

NFL Workout Updates: 8/24/20

Here are Monday’s notable workouts:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC Notes: Dareus, Broncos, Green, Chiefs, Darnold

Marcell Dareus will undergo surgery today to repair a core muscle injury, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). The defensive lineman is expected to miss 4-6 weeks for Jaguars.

Here’s more around the AFC:

  • Broncos coach Vic Fangio said it was “possible” that CB Bryce Callahan will miss the rest of the season, Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic tweets. Callaham underwent stem cell treatment on his foot last month and the original projection was 4-to-6 weeks.
  • A.J. Green did not practice today for the Bengals and isn’t expected to play against the Rams in London, Ben Baby of ESPN.com tweets. LT Cordy Glenn will also not play in the contest.
  • DE Frank Clark (neck), DT Chris Jones (groin), LB Darron Lee (illness) and CB Kendall Fuller (thumb) all missed practice for the Chiefs today, Herbie Teope of Kansas City.com tweets. Patrick Mahomes is practicing again for the second-straight day.
  • Sam Darnold was limited in practice today, Brian Costello of the New York Post relays (Twitter link). Darnold was a non-participant for the Jets on Wednesday because of a toe ailment.