Minor NFL Transactions: 12/7/22
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Reverted to season-ending IR: OL Jalen Mayfield
Cleveland Browns
- Claimed (from Buccaneers): WR Jaelon Darden
- Signed off Raiders’ practice squad: LB Reggie Ragland
- Placed on IR: WR Anthony Schwartz
Denver Broncos
- Signed off Rams’ practice squad: DL Elijah Garcia
Detroit Lions
- Designated for return: WR Quintez Cephus
Houston Texans
- Claimed (from Chiefs): DT Taylor Stallworth
- Designated for return: S Grayland Arnold, LB Jonathan Greenard
- Waived: DT Michael Dwumfour
Los Angeles Rams
- Reverted to season-ending IR: G David Edwards
Minnesota Vikings
- Placed on IR: TE Ben Ellefson, CB Akayleb Evans
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Designated for return: LB K.J. Britt
Ellefson came off IR just last week and did not play in the Vikings’ matchup against the Jets. A nagging groin injury will send the third-year tight end back to IR. Although the new IR rules allow for players to be activated twice from IR, Minnesota’s injury-return math may come into play by the time Ellefson’s second activation window opens (Week 18).
In Darden, Browns snagged the NFL’s punt-return yards leader. The 2021 Bucs fourth-rounder has not seen much action on offense, with Tampa Bay oozing experience at the receiver position. But he has been Tampa Bay’s primary punt returner. Darden has totaled 330 punt-return yards this season. A 2021 third-round pick, Schwartz sustained a concussion that has sent him to IR. Ragland has spent the past month on the Raiders’ taxi squad. The Browns are the former second-round pick’s fifth team in four seasons; the ex-Jets draftee was with the Chiefs, Lions and Giants from 2019-21. After losing Anthony Walker and Jacob Phillips earlier this year, the Browns moved Sione Takitaki to IR with an ACL tear this week.
A rotational cog for the Saints, Colts and Chiefs during his five-year career, Stallworth played only 14% of Kansas City’s defensive snaps this season. He committed a third-down roughing-the-passer penalty during a Bengals touchdown drive in Week 13. The Texans had already used one of their injury activations on Dwumfour; the 1-10-1 team has three remaining. Greenard, who led the 2021 Texans with eight sacks, has been on the shelf since going down with a calf injury in an October practice.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/5/22
Today’s taxi squad moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: QB Brett Hundley (story)
- Released: LB Devon Kennard
Denver Broncos
- Signed: QB Jarrett Guarantano
Detroit Lions
- Signed: QB Joshua Dobbs
New England Patriots
- Signed: CB Quandre Mosely
Dobbs’ arrival in Detroit comes not long after he visited the Lions on a workout. The journeyman will provide depth behind starter Jared Goff and backup Nate Sudfeld on the taxi squad, after the Bears signed Tim Boyle to their active roster last week.
Lions Activate WR Jameson Williams, DE Romeo Okwara
The Lions announced today that they will be adding two major pieces at a time when the team is playing its best football of the season. Rookie first-round pick Jameson Williams is set to make his NFL debut after spending the first 12 weeks of the season on the reserve/non-football injury list and defensive end Romeo Okwara is set to play his first football since October 3rd of last season. 
Williams was a transfer student who joined the Crimson Tide after two seasons at Ohio State. In his lone season at Alabama, Williams dominated as the team’s No. 1 receiver. While teammate (and fellow rookie who also has yet to play an NFL snap) John Metchie III led the team in catches (96), Williams led the team in every other receiving category with his 79 receptions for 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns. A month after Metchie tore his ACL in the 2021 SEC Championship Game, Williams tore his in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship game.
Detroit has had to make do without many receiving options this year. Williams has been unavailable until now, free agent addition DJ Chark has only appeared in five games this year due to an ankle injury, and Quintez Cephus has been on injured reserve since the beginning of October, much like he was last year. With all those receivers out, second-year wide out Amon-Ra St. Brown has stepped up for a breakout year leading the team in receptions (65), receiving yards (716), and receiving touchdowns (4). Kalif Raymond and Josh Reynolds have also been asked to step up during the absences. It’s unclear how much Williams will be involved this week, so it might make sense for the Lions to play this week with a top-three of St. Brown, Raymond, and Chark, easing Williams into professional play and counting on Reynolds and Tom Kennedy in relief.
Okwara is in his fifth year with the Lions after spending two years as an undrafted free agent with the Giants. Detroit claimed the pass rusher off waivers from New York just before the 2018 season and he rewarded them immediately. Okwara started 14 games for the Lions in 15 appearances and led the team with 7.5 sacks and 14 quarterback hits, adding eight tackles for loss for good measure. After a surprising down year in 2019 where Okwara saw his usage plummet, he came back with a vengeance in 2020. Okwara posted career highs in sacks (10.0), tackles for loss (11.0), and quarterback hits (18) leading the team in each category by a mile. Okwara saw his 2021 season end with a torn Achilles tendon in Week 4 and hasn’t seen the football field since, spending all of this season so far on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.
The Lions pass rush could certainly use the 2020-version of Okwara. The team’s sack leader this year in rookie No. 2 overall pick Aidan Hutchinson, who only has 5.5 sacks. After Hutchinson, Detroit has three players tied with two sacks apiece. One of those players is Okwara’s younger brother Julian Okwara. The younger Okwara brother is unfortunately headed to IR after injuring his elbow in the team’s Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Bills. Unless the team feels strongly about bringing the third-year outside linebacker back for the final two games of the regular season, his year may be over. Activating Romeo is a big boost but losing your second-most effective pass rusher for the season in Julian hurts.
In addition to the team’s three reserve list transactions, the Lions will also promote center Ross Pierschbacher from the practice squad as a standard gameday elevation against the Jaguars this week.
Bears Add QB Tim Boyle
The Bears could be down their top two QBs when they take on the Packers on Sunday, so the team has added some reinforcement at the position. ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reports (via Twitter) that the Bears have signed quarterback Tim Boyle off the Lions’ practice squad.
Starting quarterback Justin Fields is currently dealing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that forced him to miss Sunday’s game against the Jets. Trevor Siemian gutted through an oblique injury to play in that loss to New York, and it’s uncertain if he’ll be able to suit up this weekend. That would leave Nathan Peterman as the only healthy quarterback on the roster, so the team ended up snagging Boyle off Detroit’s taxi squad.
Boyle served as a backup to Aaron Rodgers to begin his career before catching on with the Lions in 2021. He ended up getting three starts for Detroit last year, completing 61 of his 94 pass attempts for 526 yards, three touchdowns, and six interceptions. The 28-year-old re-signed with the Lions this past offseason, and after getting cut at the end of the preseason, he caught on with the organization’s practice squad.
He’ll likely be a temporary piece in Chicago once the team’s QB corps is completely healthy. However, Boyle wasn’t just a random fill-in. Cronin notes that the Bears signed him because of his familiarity with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who was the Packers’ QBs coach when the two were in Green Bay.
The Bears made two more moves today, placing defensive back Dane Cruikshank on injured reserve and signing defensive lineman Andrew Brown off the Cardinals practice squad. Cruikshank has gotten into eight games for Chicago this season, but a hamstring injury will sideline him for at least the next four games. Brown has 23 games of NFL experience, with the former fifth-round pick having collected 18 tackles and one sack in time with the Bengals, Texans, and Chargers.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/29/22
Today’s practice squad moves:
Chicago Bears
- Signed: S Adrian Colbert
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: LB Owen Carney, WR Tyron Johnson
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: LB Tae Davis
Denver Broncos
- Signed: DB Lamar Jackson
- Released: WR Kaden Davis, RB Tyreik McAllister
Detroit Lions
- Signed: CB Jarren Williams
- Released: WR Josh Johnson
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: TE Nick Guggemos
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: LB Kenny Young
- Placed on IR: OL Drew Desjarlais
New York Giants
- Signed: OL Devery Hamilton, LB Quincy Roche, DB Trenton Thompson
- Released: WR Robert Foster
New York Jets
- Signed: S Kai Nacua, RB Jonathan Ward
- Released: WR Diontae Spencer, DL Marquiss Spencer
Philadelphia Eagles
- Released: RB Kennedy Brooks, T Roderick Johnson
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: DE Renell Wren
- Released: WR Josh Malone
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DE Kemoko Turay
- Released: CB Ka’dar Hollman
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: LB J.J. Russell
- Activated from IR: CB Anthony Chesley
- Released: DL Khalil Davis, CB Quandre Mosely
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: WR Reggie Roberson Jr.
Lions Place Charles Harris On IR, Sign James Houston From Practice Squad
After re-emerging for two games earlier this month, Charles Harris will see his injury-marred season will be paused again. The Lions placed the former first-round pick on IR on Monday.
A groin injury has kept Harris on the shelf for the past two games. He will be shut down until at least Week 17. Given the timetable here, it is certainly possible the Lions — who have five injury activations left — just keep the veteran defensive end on IR the rest of the way. To take Harris’ roster spot, Detroit signed defensive end James Houston — he of two Thanksgiving Day sacks in his NFL debut — off the practice squad.
The Lions entered the year with reasonable plans for Harris, who re-signed with the team on a two-year, $14MM accord. Harris led the 2021 Lions with 7.5 sacks, helping a team that had lost Romeo Okwara to a severe injury. The Dolphins cut Harris earlier in 2021, leading him to the Lions on a low-cost deal.
Harris, who suffered the groin injury initially in Week 4, opened the season as a starter. After his first hiatus, however, he returned as a backup. The former Mizzou standout played only 24 defensive snaps in Detroit’s past two games. He has one sack and four quarterback hits this season.
A sixth-round rookie, Houston has spent the season on Detroit’s practice squad. Despite playing only five defensive snaps in his debut, Houston dropped Josh Allen twice. He figures to see more opportunities going forward. The Lions have Aidan Hutchinson positioned as their edge anchor but have dealt with considerable injury issues outside of the No. 2 overall pick. Most notably, Okwara remains on the team’s PUP list. But the Lions designated him for return earlier this month, opening the door to a late-season stretch of game action for the veteran pass rusher.
Lions OC Ben Johnson Generating Head Coaching Interest?
Not long before the 2022 season started, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was not assured of acting as the team’s play-caller. He has operated within that role this season, and the unit’s performance has reportedly caused many around the league to take notice in him. 
In a breakdown of emerging head coaching candidates, Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post names Johnson as a staffer generating considerable buzz around the league. Johnson’s Lions have been surprisingly efficient on offense, ranking in the top eight in the league in both total and scoring offense (averaging 374 yards and 25 points per game). Their pass game has been far more effective than many expected, especially with first-round rookie wideout Jameson Williams still yet to make his debut.
On the ground, Detroit has put up just shy of 130 rushing yards per game on average; that figure comes as somewhat striking given the limited usage top running back D’Andre Swift has seen as he continues to battle nagging injuries. It represents a reflection, in the eyes of many executives and evaluators, of Johnson’s creativity from a schematic standpoint – something which “quite possibly” could put him in the conversation for a HC gig as early as this coming cycle.
The 36-year-old was promoted from tight ends coach to OC this offseason as the Lions’ replacement for Anthony Lynn. It remained unclear for months after that expected decision, however, if he or head coach Dan Campbell would handle play-calling duties. The decision to give that responsibility to Johnson has paid clear dividends for Detroit, which sits at 4-7 despite fielding the league’s lowest-ranked defense. Especially when Williams is able to suit up, the degree to whish Johnson will be able to maintain the offense’s effectiveness will be worth watching as the season winds down.
A number of assistants have had their names floated around for the upcoming cycle, one in which Carolina and Indianapolis will be conducting full searches for permanent bench bosses. Other teams will likely be on the lookout for new hires as well; despite his lack of experience compared to top candidate Sean Payton, Johnson could very well be on the radar to land with one such squad this winter.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/23/22
Today’s minor moves around the league:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed to active roster: WR Frank Darby
Buffalo Bills
- Elevated: DE Mike Love, WR Tanner Gentry
Dallas Cowboys
- Elevated: T Aviante Collins, DE Takk McKinley
Detroit Lions
- Elevated: LB James Houston, C Ross Pierschbacher
Green Bay Packers
- Designated for return from NFI list: T Caleb Jones
- Claimed off waivers (from Rams): LB Justin Hollins
- Waived: RB Patrick Taylor
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Designated for return from IR: OLB K’Lavon Chaisson
Las Vegas Raiders
- Designated for return from IR: CB Nate Hobbs
Los Angeles Chargers
- Designated for return from IR: RB Joshua Kelley
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: DT Justin Zimmer
New York Giants
- Signed to active roster: OL Devery Hamilton, S Trenton Thompson
- Elevated: S Terrell Burgess, OL Korey Cunningham
- Waived: LB Austin Calitro, OLB Quincy Roche
Thanksgiving will mark McKinley’s Cowboys debut after he signed to Dallas’ practice squad last week. The veteran will seek to be more productive in his reunion with Dan Quinn than his previous stops following the end of his Falcons tenure, while providing depth to a Cowboys edge group which has produced a league-leading 42 sacks this season.
Hobbs returning to the fold in the near future will be a welcomed sight for the Raiders’ secondary. The 2021 fifth-rounder was a full-time starter through the first five weeks of the season before landing on IR with a broken hand. Vegas has struggled against the pass, allowing more than 247 yards per game through the air in 2022. The team has three weeks to activate him before he becomes ineligible to play again this season.
Lions CB Jeff Okudah Likely Out For Week 12
The Lions will in all likelihood be without their top cornerback when they take on the Bills on Thanksgiving. Jeff Okudah is dealing with a concussion, and will have little (if any) chance of being cleared in time for Thursday’s game. 
Okudah exited Detroit’s win over the Giants on Sunday after a collision with teammate Will Harris and did not return. Given the short turnaround – not to mention the parameters of the league’s new concussion protocols – it would be nearly impossible for the Ohio State product to suit up in two days’ time.
Head coach Dan Campbell confirmed as much when speaking to the media about Okudah’s availability. “He’ll be out I’m pretty sure,” he said, via the team’s website. “We just talked about it; I don’t think there is any way possible he can play.”
Injuries are nothing new for the 23-year-old. He missed seven games during his rookie campaign, and essentially all of last season due to an Achilles tear. That led to serious questions about his ability to recover in full and live up to his draft stock as a former No. 3 pick. He impressed the team during the summer, though, and was assured of a starting spot on the boundary during the lead-in to the season.
Okudah had played nearly every snap this season before suffering the injury on Sunday, something which was a welcomed sight for the Lions given his importance to the team’s league-worst defense. He has racked up 53 tackles, five pass breakups and one interception (returned for a touchdown). Detroit will be hard-pressed to replace that production in his absence.
The team will turn to Jerry Jacobs, Mike Hughes and Amani Oruwariye at corner. The latter had a breakout campaign last season, but has taken a major step back in 2022, to the point of being benched for one game and finding himself on the trade market earlier this year. What would already have been a difficult task in slowing the Bills’ high-octane offense will thus be made even more challenging as the Lions look for a fourth straight win on Thursday.
Lions Designate WR Jameson Williams For Return
Fresh off a victory which extended their winning streak to three games, the Lions could have a significant addition coming soon. The team announced on Monday that they have opened rookie wideout Jameson Williams‘ practice window.
That gives him three weeks to be activated from the NFI list. If he does not return within that timeframe, he will be ineligible to play in 2022. Today’s news represents an encouraging step towards a debut in the near future, though. It also falls in line with what the team had indicated last week.
“I would say probably after Thanksgiving sometime… I think that’s tentatively what we’re looking at,” head coach Dan Campbell had said at that time on the question of bringing Williams into the fold. ” We’ll see where it goes. He’s progressing, there’s no setbacks.”
Detroit traded up in the first round to select the Alabama product with the No. 12 pick, despite knowing that his ACL tear would leave him unavailable for most of the season. The team had initially aimed for a return to the field around the midway mark of the campaign, but that proved too optimistic. Any game action from Williams would likely do wonders for the team’s offense, given the production he put up in his final college season.
The 6-2, 190-pound speedster racked up 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns while helping lead the Crimson Tide to the national title game. It was there that he suffered the injury, though it did little to hurt his draft stock. A healthy Williams would provide the Lions with their top trio at the position for the first time, joining Amon-Ra St. Brown and DJ Chark (who himself was just activated from IR).
That could help provide some stability in the passing game for the 4-6 Lions. The team ranks mid-pack with an average of 245 yards per game through the air for the season, but has fallen short of 200 yards three times in the past five games. In the near future, though, the Lions’ full array of wideouts should be available.