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Minor NFL Transactions: 11/8/23

November 8th, 2023 at 7:29pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans

Minnesota Vikings

Seattle Seahawks

Cory Littleton is back in Houston. The linebacker already got into six games with the Texans this season, mostly playing on special teams. After getting cut in late October, he caught on with the Saints practice squad and quickly earned a promotion on Sunday. This time around, Littleton should be sticking in Houston, at least temporarily. The Texans are required to keep the LB on their active roster for at least three weeks.

The veteran had a productive stint with the Rams to begin his career. He spent four years in Los Angeles, including a two-year stint between 2018 and 2019 where he averaged 129 tackles per season.

Texans Designate CB Derek Stingley Jr. For Return

November 8th, 2023 at 6:19pm CST by Ben Levine

The Texans should soon welcome back a key defender. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the team designated cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. for return from injured reserve.

The team will now have 21 days to activate the defensive back from IR. Aaron Wilson of Click2Houston.com notes that while Stingley returned to practice, he might not be back this weekend against the Bengals. Considering he’s been sidelined for more than a month, the team is thinking about extending the player’s ramp-up period with an eye on activation against the Cardinals in Week 11.

The former third-overall pick suffered a hamstring injury during a late-September practice, landing him on injured reserve. Stingley started each of Houston’s first two games this season, collecting nine tackles.

The Texans had high hopes for the LSU product when they used the third-overall pick on him during the 2022 draft. He was productive to begin his rookie campaign, collecting 43 tackles, one interception, and five passes defended. He suffered a hamstring injury in Week 10 that ultimately forced him to miss the rest of the season.

Stingley wasn’t the only Texans player to return to practice today. Wilson tweets that the team also opened offensive tackle Charlie Heck‘s 21-day window for activation. The veteran has been sidelined since training camp while dealing with a foot injury. The former fourth-round pick has seen time in 35 games through his first three seasons in the NFL, including a 2021 campaign where he started 13 games.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/7/23

November 7th, 2023 at 8:35pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are Tuesday’s minor transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Rams

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Price finds his way to injured reserve with an undisclosed injury in order to make room for quarterback Kyler Murray, who was activated from IR this afternoon. Price spent time on IR last year with a knee injury before missing the first five games of this season, as well.

Vilain and Wooten join eight other defenders on IR as Carolina continues to deal with injury issues on that side of the ball. They recently added veteran pass rusher Justin Houston to the injured list but may soon get back linebacker Marquis Haynes after opening his 21-day practice window yesterday.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/7/23

November 7th, 2023 at 7:59pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are the NFL’s practice squad moves from today:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

  • Signed: LB Ace Eley

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR T.J. Luther

New York Giants

New York Jets

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

The Jets have decided to shoulder the risk of bringing on Winfrey, who was waived by the Browns in July after facing his second allegation of violence against a woman. He was not charged with anything in the case that led to his release from Cleveland, but combined with past off-field incidents, the allegations were enough to propel him towards free agency.

Texans To Sign K Matt Ammendola

November 7th, 2023 at 11:11am CST by Adam La Rose

In need of a fill-in at the kicker spot, the Texans are set to make an addition. Houston has agreed to a deal with Matt Ammendola, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports.

Ka’imi Fairbairn is dealing with a quad injury, one which forced him to exit the Texans’ Week 9 win and could keep him sidelined for a short-term stretch. Today’s move points further to Fairbairn being unavailable for at least one contest, though Ammendola is not immediately joining the team’s active roster. Rather, as Wilson notes, this is a practice squad arrangement.

As Houston continues to evaluate Fairbarin’s status, Ammendola will be available as one of the team’s gameday elevations for Week 10. Players can be temporarily be added to a roster in such a fashion up to three times, so the Texans will have an insurance policy in the form of the 26-year-old for the time being. Ammendola has bounced around the league since his 11-game stint with the Jets in 2021.

The Oklahoma State alum went 13-for-19 on field goal attempts with New York, and he has yet to find a long-time home in large part due to his inability to rebound from that up-and-down start to his career. Ammendola split his time between the Cardinals and Chiefs last season, and his time in Kansas City earned him a Super Bowl ring. During the 2022 preseason, he filled in for an injured Fairbairn in Houston. For his career, Ammendola has made 69.2% of his field goal attempts (18 of 26), along with 86.4% of his extra point kicks (19 of 22).

Those figures contrast greatly with those of Fairbairn, who has proven himself to be a consistent performer during his tenure in Houston. Any missed time from him would threaten the Texans’ kicking game, but a replacement option is now in place in case one is needed.

Texans DT Hassan Ridgeway Suffers Achilles Tear; K Ka’imi Fairbairn Could Miss Time

November 6th, 2023 at 3:39pm CST by Adam La Rose

During the Texans’ dramatic win in Week 9, their defense and special teams units suffered injuries. Their D-line will be shorthanded while the team could be in need of a kicker in the near future.

Defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway suffered a torn Achilles in the victory over the Buccaneers, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports. That will require surgery, and his season will be over as a result. The 29-year-old signed a one-year, $4MM deal in free agency in a move which allowed him to follow head coach DeMeco Ryans from San Francisco to Houston. He had been in the starting lineup due to Sheldon Rankins‘ absence.

Ridgeway was activated from IR in time for Week 9, but his return has proven to be short-lived. In all, Ridgeway’s 2023 campaign will have consisted of just 62 defensive snaps and six tackles. As Wilson notes, the Texans are hopeful Rankins will be able to play in Week 10, a development which would soften the blow of the lost depth along the defensive interior.

In other injury news, kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn – who exited Sunday’s win with a quad injury – could miss time. Wilson reports he is set to undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of his injury, but there is already “concern” within the team that a multi-game absence could ensue. Houston managed a last-minute victory in Week 9 in part with several two-point attempts, but backup running back Dare Ogunbowale made his only field goal attempt during the contest.

Fairbairn, 29, has enjoyed another strong season, his seventh with the Texans. He has converted 18 of 19 field goal attempts (including every one from inside 50 yards), as well as all 14 of his extra point kicks. That has him on track to increase what is already a very strong career average on FGs (86.5%), and his absence would obviously be acutely felt. It will be interesting to see how the 4-4 Texans proceed in search of a short-term Fairbairn replacement if one does indeed become necessary.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/4/23

November 4th, 2023 at 3:49pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves and gameday callups for Week 9:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

  • Elevated: QB Dresser Winn

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

With Kyler Murray not being activated from injured reserve this week, the Cardinals are heading into Week 9 with Clayton Tune as the only quarterback on their active roster. Driskel will be called up for the week as a standard gameday elevation to back up Tune.

With Matthew Stafford listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game, the Rams are adding some depth at the quarterback position. Dresser Winn had a breakout 2022 campaign at UT Martin, tossing 18 touchdowns while adding another three scores on the ground. He joined the Rams as an UDFA but was cut at the end of the preseason. He had a brief stint in the Canadian Football League before rejoining the Rams practice squad earlier this week. If Stafford can’t go, Brett Rypien will get the call under center for the Rams.

Peters will be elevated for the second straight week in Seattle. The 41-year-old, playing in his 19th NFL season, split snaps with right tackle Stone Forsythe last week against Cleveland.

NFL Injury Rumors: Giants, Banks, Stafford

November 3rd, 2023 at 9:22pm CST by Ely Allen

The Giants received some good news with the announcement that starting quarterback Daniel Jones has received clearance to play and is line to start Week 9 in Las Vegas. In the same breath, though, New York was forced into the realization that it will be without Jones’ safety net and security blanket as backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor and tight end Darren Waller will both be absent this weekend and, potentially, longer, according to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.

Taylor sustained a rib cage injury that knocked him out of last week’s overtime loss to the Jets. Waller is also dealing with some injury trouble concerning his groin and hamstring. Despite the injuries last week, Taylor and Waller led the Giants in passing and receiving, respectively, in the loss, despite only totaling eight yards passing and four yards receiving.

Raanan relayed the report from head coach Brian Daboll, who mentioned that he doesn’t expect either player back any time soon. In fact, the head coach didn’t rule a stint on injured reserve for Taylor or Waller.

Here are a few other injury rumors from around the NFL, starting with a Texans rookie starter:

  • Houston placed rookie center Jarrett Patterson, who had been forced into the starting lineup due to other injuries along the offensive line, on IR on Tuesday. The specifics of Patterson’s injury weren’t reported at the time, but Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 informed us this week that Patterson suffered a broken fibula. After receiving multiple medical opinions, Patterson will avoid surgery but is still expected to miss six to eight weeks.
  • On the second to last drive of last week’s loss to Cincinnati, 49ers starting left guard Aaron Banks suffered a foot injury that he wouldn’t report until finishing the game. Per a report by David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone, head coach Kyle Shanahan communicated that he expects Banks to miss a few weeks with a turf toe injury. “Yeah, with turf toe, you never know,” Shanahan said. “So, they told me it should be a few weeks, is what I got here. I know that’s a little vague, but I would say that means at least three weeks.” Luckily for San Francisco, one of those weeks should include the team’s Week 9 bye.
  • While dealing with a UCL sprain suffered in this past weekend’s loss to Dallas, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has been classified as day-to-day. After testing out the thumb injury on Tuesday, Stafford sat out the remainder of this week’s practices, according to Kevin Patra of NFL Network. Still, head coach Sean McVay reported Stafford will be labeled as questionable heading into the Week 9 and will be a game-time decision to play. If Stafford is unavailable on Sunday, backup quarterback Brett Rypien will make the start. Rypien has gone 2-1 in three starts over his first four years in the league but has thrown twice as many interceptions (8) as touchdowns (4). Either way, Los Angeles will leave Sunday headed towards a bye week, allowing Stafford an extra week of rest to potentially return for Week 11.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/3/23

November 3rd, 2023 at 8:24pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s minor transactions from around the league:

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Washington Commanders

Anderson, a fifth-round draft pick last year for the Bengals, missed his entire rookie season on injured reserve. After contributing in seven games this year as a core special teamer, Anderson’s sophomore season will also be cut short with head coach Zac Taylor confirming that the young safety tore his ACL, per Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. He played through the initial injury in last week’s win but will be unable to continue the rest of the year.

The Patriots’ Anderson, on the other hand, is a more intriguing situation. After he spent most of the preseason on the non-football illness list with an undisclosed illness, the team is placing Anderson on IR with an “illness” designation. It’s not clear at this time if this is a similar issue to what held him out of the preseason, but illness has surely dealt a significant blow to Anderson’s 2023 season so far.

The Giants got ahead of the waiver rules by releasing Olszewski in a procedural move on Monday before the trade deadline. This allowed them to plainly sign Olszewski back to the active roster on a new deal without him having to clear waivers. As predicted, he returns to the roster for Week 9.

Castro-Fields and Cox will fill the roster spots vacated by the Commanders’ big trades of defensive ends Chase Young to the 49ers and Montez Sweat to the Bears.

2023 NFL Trades

October 31st, 2023 at 10:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 2023 NFL trading period is now over. Dozens of trades — some in the roster-reshaping mold, others executed for depth purposes — ended up coming to pass. Since the NFL moved its trade deadline from Week 6 to Week 8 in 2012, trades have gradually become a more important part of the league’s roster builds.

An argument can be made the NFL should move its deadline deeper into the season, as the MLB, NBA and NHL deadlines come after the midpoint. The NFL moving to a 17-game/18-week slate in 2021, after 43 years at 16 games, also factors into this line of thinking. For now, the league will still force its buyers and sellers to assess their teams fully by Week 8.

To gauge the value of the moves teams have made, here are the trades completed across the league in 2023. (Note: only trades involving veteran players, as opposed to draft-weekend deals only involving picks, are listed here.)

January 31

The Saints chose defensive tackle Bryan Bresee at No. 29 overall

March 9

March 10

  • Bears send Panthers No. 1 overall pick in exchange for No. 9, No. 61, a 2024 first-rounder and 2025 second

The Panthers chose Bryce Young first overall; the Bears traded down from No. 9 to No. 19, drafting tackle Darnell Wright. Trading up from No. 61 to No. 56, Chicago chose cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.

March 12

The Rams selected outside linebacker Byron Young at No. 77 overall

March 13

New England selected defensive back Isaiah Bolden at No. 245

March 14

Houston used the No. 230 pick in a package to trade up for center Juice Scruggs in Round 2; Tampa Bay packaged No. 179 to move up for guard Cody Mauch in Round 2

At No. 100, the Raiders drafted wide receiver Tre Tucker

The Colts selected running back Evan Hull at No. 176

March 20

The Texans used No. 161 to trade up for wide receiver Tank Dell

March 22

The Jets included No. 42 in the picks package sent to the Packers for Aaron Rodgers; the Browns chose wide receiver Cedric Tillman at No. 74

March 25

April 11

The Lions packaged No. 159 to move up for defensive back Brian Branch in Round 2

April 18

The Rams agreed to pay $5MM of Robinson’s 2023 salary. At No. 234, the Rams chose cornerback Jason Taylor II; at 251, the Steelers selected offensive lineman Spencer Anderson.

April 24

  • Packers send QB Aaron Rodgers, Nos. 15, 170 to Jets for Nos. 13, 42, 207, conditional 2024 second-round pick

Rodgers needed to play 65% of the Jets’ 2023 offensive snaps for the 2024 pick to become a first-rounder; his Week 1 Achilles tear will prevent that from happening. At No. 13, the Packers chose pass rusher Lukas Van Ness; at 15, the Jets took defensive end Will McDonald. At Nos. 42 and 207, Green Bay respectively chose tight end Luke Musgrave and kicker Anders Carlson. The Jets moved down from No. 170, picking up an additional seventh-round pick. 

April 29

At No. 219, the Lions chose wide receiver Antoine Green; at 249, the Eagles selected defensive tackle Moro Ojomo

The Saints chose wide receiver A.T. Perry at No. 195; the Broncos selected center Alex Forsyth at 257

May 12

May 25

July 19

  • Jets move WR Denzel Mims, 2025 seventh-round pick to Lions for conditional 2025 sixth-rounder

Mims needed to make the Lions’ 53-man roster for the pick to convey. With the Lions cutting Mims with an injury settlement in August, the Jets will not end up receiving a pick in this trade.

August 24

August 25

August 27

August 28

August 29

September 20

Akers must tally more than 500 yards from scrimmage to meet the conditional requirement

October 4

October 6

The Broncos agreed to pay all but the prorated veteran minimum of Gregory’s 2023 base salary

October 10

October 18

October 23

October 30

Giants agreed to pay all but the prorated veteran minimum on Williams’ remaining $10MM in base salary

Street must play in at least six games as a Falcon to meet the conditional requirement

October 31

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