NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/30/22

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

  • Signed: WR Shemar Bridges

Denver Broncos

Los Angeles Rams

  • Signed: WR Jaquarii Roberson

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/29/22

Today’s practice squad moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

  • Signed: DB Lamar Jackson
  • Released: WR Kaden Davis, RB Tyreik McAllister

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

  • Signed: TE Nick Guggemos

New Orleans Saints

  • Signed: LB Kenny Young
  • Placed on IR: OL Drew Desjarlais

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/28/22

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos

Indianapolis Colts

Pittsburgh Steelers

Boone has been out since Week 7 with an ankle injury; the Broncos have three weeks to activate him. Signed in 2021, Boone has played a third-string role for most of his time in Denver. But Melvin Gordon‘s fumbling problem persisting led to some increased work before the ankle malady. The Broncos have three injury activations remaining.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/26/22

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

Coaching Rumors: Evero, Bevell, Downing

Ejiro Evero profiles as one of the more unusual coaching candidates in recent memory. The first-year Broncos defensive coordinator has delivered in his first season up from the position-coaching level, with Denver overcoming a stream of injuries — and the Bradley Chubb trade — to stay on course as a top-three scoring defense. Evero has come up on multiple teams’ HC radars, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes. The Broncos might even be interested in talking to him about their job, Fowler adds, with Nathaniel Hackett barreling toward becoming this century’s 14th one-and-done coach. But Denver’s 3-7 record could delay a potential Evero ascent.

Evero, 41, spent the previous five years on Sean McVay‘s Rams staff but has been a longtime Hackett friend. The two played together at UC-Davis. The Broncos attempting a Hackett-for-Evero swap might be difficult, especially since the organization’s new owners would presumably like to start fresh considering how poorly this season has gone. But teams are monitoring Denver’s up-and-coming DC, who will almost certainly not have to worry about the playoffs scuttling any interview plans.

Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:

  • Todd Downing‘s DUI arrest will undoubtedly have a significant effect on his near-future aspirations to become a head coach. Establishing some momentum during his two-year Titans OC stay — which has featured the 2021 team earning the AFC’s No. 1 seed without Derrick Henry available for the stretch run and this year’s squad move to 7-3, most recently after the team’s best offensive performance of the year — Downing should not expect to be on teams’ interview lists in 2023. A GM discussing this process told the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora the arrest will remove him from HC consideration during the upcoming cycle. Downing’s arrest has brought an NFL investigation and an internal probe, putting his status with the Titans on unsteady ground.
  • Darrell Bevell is a Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator and a two-time interim head coach, and CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson notes the Dolphins quarterbacks coach/passing-game coordinator is gaining momentum for a possible run as a full-time HC gig (Twitter link). The Dolphins’ offensive success may earn both Bevell and OC Frank Smith looks. Bevell, 52, has not been on the HC interview radar in many years, bouncing around in assistant roles since the Seahawks fired him after the 2017 season. The Bills did interview Bevell in 2015, and the Lions gave him an interview after his 2020 interim stay. Aided by the arrivals of Mike McDaniel and Tyreek Hill, Tua Tagovailoa has taken a major step forward this season. The third-year southpaw still leads the league in QBR. It will be interesting to see if Bevell ends up receiving interview consideration soon as a result.
  • Cardinals DC Vance Joseph has rebuilt his stock to the point he should be expected to land more interviews in 2023, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano adds. Joseph’s name has come up recently, despite his defense’s production dipping this season. Although the Cardinals have shown flashes defensively, they rank 31st and are coming off a nationally televised 38-10 loss to the 49ers. Joseph, who coached in Denver for two seasons, booked a Dolphins HC interview last year. With Kliff Kingsbury‘s Arizona staff potentially set to splinter, Joseph would at worst be a coordinator candidate elsewhere in 2023.

Melvin Gordon Drawing Free Agent Interest

Melvin Gordon has been unemployed since Tuesday, when his Broncos tenure came to an end and he passed through waivers unclaimed. The veteran running back believes that situation will change soon, however.

In an interview with Mike Klis of 9News, Gordon addressed his Denver departure, which came about after his underwhelming season continued on Sunday. The Broncos’ overtime loss to the Raiders saw the 29-year-old post 31 rushing yards on eight carries, extending his streak of games averaging less than 4.0 yards per carry to eight. Most notably, though, was the fact that Gordon fumbled for the fifth time this season – an issue which remained present throughout recent seasons.

“No, that wasn’t even mentioned,” Gordon said, though, when asked if his ball security struggles played a role in the team’s decision to move on from him. “It was crazy when I’d seen that. Because [general manager] George [Paton], when he talked to me, he didn’t mention anything about that. He knew what type of environment it was for me. He knew how I felt toward my situation there and he told me about the fan base and how it’s been tough for me and said he didn’t want to put me through this anymore and with our situation it was probably best.”

The former first-rounder added that “several teams have expressed interest” in adding him as a free agent for the stretch run. Playoff-bound clubs are among those, including some who would be willing to add him to their practice squads for a short period before elevating him to the active roster. While such a scenario seemed highly unlikely entering the campaign after he re-upped with Denver this offseason, it would allow him to rebuild some value heading into 2023.

Gordon has averaged just 3.5 yards per carry in 2022, matching his rookie season for the lowest such mark of his career. The Broncos’ injury-riddled offense has played a role in that lack of success, but his 2,275 scrimmage yards and 20 touchdowns scored between 2020 and 2021 in Denver could appeal to contending teams looking for backfield depth.

Reflecting on his time as a Bronco, the Wisconsin alum said that “there were times I felt like I was a scapegoat,” but added that he has “no hard feelings” towards the organization or its fans. If his stated level of interest is true, he should start his next football chapter in the near future.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/22/22

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

  • Signed: RB Tyreik McAllister, LB Ray Wilborn
  • Released: LB Harvey Langi

Houston Texans

  • Signed: DB D’Angelo Ross

Indianapolis Colts

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/22/22

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Indianapolis Colts

New York Giants

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

The Bengals both designated Prince for return from IR and activated him Monday. This marks the second time this year the defending AFC champions have used one of their injury activations on a player only to waive him a day later. This first happened with Kareem, who then moved to the Bengals’ practice squad ahead of this Colts poaching. A former Dolphins sixth-rounder, Prince played in 15 Bengals games last season and started four. He has not played this year. It will be somewhat interesting if the Bengals keep Prince via a P-squad agreement, provided no waiver claims emerge.

Eifler, Rhattigan and Shudak have three weeks from Tuesday to be activated. The Seahawks, Titans and Commanders had seen their number of activation-eligible players pile up in recent weeks. Each of these teams have five injury activations remaining.

The Titans waived Week 11 kicker fill-in Josh Lambo on Monday. Primary Tennessee kicker Randy Bullock missed the game but is not on IR. Bullock suffered a calf injury during pregame warmups in Week 10. Shudak, a rookie UDFA out of Iowa who has spent the season on the Titans’ reserve/PUP list, would stand to represent insurance this week.

Broncos Waive RB Melvin Gordon

NOVEMBER 22: No team claimed Gordon, who has passed through to free agency, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. This will be Gordon’s third time in free agency. In both other instances — 2020 and ’22 — the Broncos signed him. Gordon will be searching for a third NFL employer. Just more than $836K remained on Gordon’s Broncos contract, a one-year, $2.5MM accord.

NOVEMBER 21: In the wake of another underwhelming performance, Melvin Gordon‘s time with the Broncos is coming to an end. Denver is waiving the veteran running back, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). The team has confirmed the move.

Gordon, 29, fumbled for the fifth time this season during yesterday’s overtime loss to the Raiders. The ongoing issues with ball security is believed to be at the heart of this move, as noted by Rapoport’s colleague James Palmer (on Twitter). A fresh start for both parties is now at hand, which could prove beneficial.

The former Charger enjoyed productive campaigns during his first two seasons in Denver, eclipsing 1,100 scrimmage yards and scoring 10 total touchdowns each year. Despite the presence of 2021 second-rounder Javonte Williams, he re-signed this past offseason on a modest one-year deal. Williams’ ACL tear opened the door to Gordon once again operating as a lead back, but he received double-digit carries just twice since he went down. Gordon scored one touchdown during that stretch, never averaging more than 3.9 yards per carry in a game.

That made him a trade candidate in the build-up to the deadline at the start of the month, but no deal materialized. The only move Denver made at the position was acquiring Chase Edmonds from the Dolphins as part of the Bradley Chubb deal. That, in turn, came after the Broncos added veteran journeyman Latavius Murray from the Saints’ practice squad.

The latter has logged at least 25 snaps in each of his games with the Broncos so far, a sign that Gordon’s hold on the No. 1 role was in danger. General manager George Paton indicated otherwise in the wake of the Edmonds trade, but another fumble yesterday proved to be the final straw. The backfield pecking order could now be slightly clearer in the wake of Gordon’s departure, though Mike Boone is a candidate to be activated from IR later on in the year.

Attention will now turn to whether or not Gordon is claimed by a team looking for experienced depth for a postseason run. Denver’s plans at the position – especially in the wake of the team having a new offensive play-caller – will also be worth watching as the 3-7 outfit looks to find success on that side of the ball.

Broncos RB Chase Edmonds Suffers High Ankle Sprain

The Broncos thinned their running backs room by choice earlier today, but they will be even more shorthanded at the position unintentionally for the short-term future. Chase Edmonds is dealing with a high ankle sprain, and will miss at least “a few weeks,” per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link).

[RELATED: Broncos Waive Melvin Gordon]

The 26-year-old had a career-year in 2021, operating in a timeshare with James Conner in Arizona. He racked up 592 yards on the ground (at a average of 5.1 yards per carry), adding 311 yards through the air. That earned him a two-year, $12.6MM deal with the Dolphins in free agency. Miami made a number of moves aimed at improving their ground game relative to the previous season.

Edmonds played a small role in that feat, however; the former fourth-rounder received just 42 carries with the Dolphins, producing 120 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He found himself on the move at the start of the month when he was included in the package Miami sent to Denver for edge rusher Bradley Chubb. That left him in another crowded backfield for the back half of the season.

The Broncos have made several moves in the wake of Javonte Williams‘ ACL tear. With the promising young back sidelined for the remainder of the season, veteran backup Melvin Gordon was expected to take over the lead role. His fumbling issues have continued, however, leading to today’s decision to move on from him. That could have resulted in a larger workload for Edmonds, but he is now facing a relatively lengthy absence.

In light of today’s news, the Broncos will likely turn to Latavius Murray as their No. 1 tailback this week against the Panthers. He signed to Denver’s active roster from New Orleans’ taxi squad, and has carved out a significant role since making his Broncos debut in Week 6. Fellow veteran Marlon Mack – who arrived in October after a brief stay on the 49ers’ practice squad – will likely serve as the backup, with Devine Ozigbo representing a potential elevation before gameday.

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