Wednesday’s reserve/futures deals:
Atlanta Falcons
Chicago Bears
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
New York Giants
Here are the NFL’s Boxing Day practice squad updates:
Atlanta Falcons
Denver Broncos
Los Angeles Rams
New England Patriots
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tennessee Titans
Washington Commanders
Smith will make his way to a third team this season. The Saints signed the former Cowboys mainstay just before the season, but the Raiders later poached the eighth-year veteran off New Orleans’ practice squad. The Steelers, who have lost regulars Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander for the season, will turn to him now. This move come after the Steelers added Mykal Walker, who is on team No. 4 this year, to their linebacking corps.
Henderson resurfaced with the Rams midway through this season, coming back after the team lost Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers in one game. Williams made his way back to action last month, while Rivers moved back to the 53-man roster last week. With Royce Freeman in place as veteran insurance, the Rams will again cut Henderson.
The Broncos are planning to bring Smith back to their P-squad soon, per the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson. The team initially planned to cut Smith to clear a spot for Kareem Jackson. With the Texans making another high-profile waiver claim — this one to reunite with Jackson, who was primarily a Houston cornerback from 2010-18 — the Broncos no longer have to clear a P-squad spot.
Today’s taxi squad moves around the league:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With roster cuts in full swing, the Commanders are among the teams to unveil their latest list of players who will not be on their initial 53-man roster. The team announced the release of the following 12 players:
Kalu and Kemp have the most NFL experience amongst the group. The former has made 44 appearances since 2020, all with the Titans. After primarily playing on special teams, the 28-year-old saw a signficant jump in playing time last season with a 44% defensive snap share. Kalu signed with the Commanders earlier this month, but he will now have the chance to find another opportunity as a depth option in the secondary.
Kemp, meanwhile, is a veteran of the Chiefs over most of the past five years. He has been used sparingly on offense, but the defending champions relied on him early and often with respect to special teams contributions. The Commanders have a well-established pecking order amongst their pass-catchers on offense, but Kemp would have provided a known commodity in the third phase if retained. He still could do so, of course, if he winds up being retained via the practice squad.
Patterson has played in 20 games in Washington since joining the team as a UDFA. He saw more opportunities as a rookie in 2021 than he did last year, but the Buffalo alum still showcased an ability to contribute on offense and special teams. The 23-year-old operated briefly as a kicker returner in 2022, and with the top of the RB depth chart accounted for in Washington, that may represent a path to playing time moving forward if Patterson is to remain in the nation’s capital.
In addition to the above cuts, the Commanders placed fourth-round rookie Braeden Daniels on IR, meaning he will be sidelined for the entire campaign. Daniels suffered a torn rotator cuff in the team’s preseason finale, reports ESPN’s John Keim.
Today’s minor moves:
Washington Commanders
Gibson missed Week 17 with a knee injury, and the issue will also force him to miss the regular season finale. Despite an uncertain role with Brian Robinson and J.D. McKissic on the roster, Gibson still managed to put up solid numbers, finishing the campaign with 899 yards from scrimmage and five scores. Of course, this was a far cry from his first two seasons when he collected 21 touchdowns and more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage.
Patterson will be taking the open spot on the depth chart. After collecting more than 300 yards in 17 games for Washington last season, the RB has only seen time in a pair of games in 2022.
Today’s roster moves heading into gameday:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Commanders
Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles and Giants moves are noted below.
Here are Wednesday’s NFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.
Signed to practice squad:
Signed:
Released:
Claimed:
Placed on IR:
Signed to practice squad:
Claimed:
Waived:
Signed to practice squad:
Released:
Claimed:
Waived:
Placed on IR:
Signed to practice squad:
Teams have until 3pm CT to trim their rosters to the regular-season 53-man limit. The Commanders have done so but did it without moving Brian Robinson off the roster.
Shot twice in the lower body Sunday, Robinson underwent surgery. Ron Rivera also expressed optimism the third-round rookie could play this season. Washington is following through on these hopes, keeping the rookie running back on its active roster. Here are the moves the Commanders made to reach the 53-man max Tuesday:
By keeping Robinson on their active roster, the Commanders opened the door to him not only playing in 2022. The team needed to carry the Alabama product through to its 53-man roster today in order to place him on short-term IR. An IR placement today would have ended Robinson’s season.
One of the gunshot wounds Robinson sustained hit his knee, but the bullet did not seriously damage ligaments, tendons or bone, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com reports (video link). It is not a lock Robinson returns this season, per Garafolo, but the team is keeping its options open.
Robinson playing as a rookie would be obviously be a remarkable development. Prior to being shot, the Day 2 draftee had made a serious charge at the Commanders’ starting running back role. The team’s primary starter over the past two seasons, Antonio Gibson, remains on the roster, as do J.D. McKissic and Jonathan Williams. Robinson being moved to IR later this week will sideline him for at least four games — likely much longer, in this case — but allow him to return later this season, should he be cleared to do so.
The Chiefs, per ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter), also submitted a claim for Blanton recently, when the Rams waived him. It will be interesting to see if the young tight end generates any interest this week. Martin has generated consistent interest on the wire. The Commanders, who drafted the guard during the Bruce Allen regime, have made two waiver attempts to land him. The second one, earlier this month after the Jaguars cut Martin, was successful. It would not surprise if Martin is brought back via the practice squad — as several of Tuesday’s cuts will be — but he could also bring more interest on the wire.
The Washington Football Team placed back up running back J.D. McKissic on their IR this afternoon. This puts an end to a long healthy streak for McKissic who hasn’t missed extended time since 2018.
Antonio Gibson has performed as the bell cow this season with McKissic coming on to give him a breather every now and then. McKissic has carried the ball 48 times for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s shown his usual prowess as a receiving back catching 43 passes from the backfield for 397 yards and 2 touchdowns. The sixth-year veteran actually has more receiving yards and touchdowns over his career than rushing.
With McKissic out, the Football Team will have to lean on the rookie out of Buffalo, Jaret Patterson, and practice squad running back Jonathan Williams. Patterson has seen a bit of run in his first year carrying the ball 37 times for 135 yards, while Williams has only appeared in 2 games so far this year, including tonight’s contest against the Eagles.
Washington will be counting on the three backs as a win tonight would put Washington in the 7th seed spot for a contentious NFC.
Despite a dominant junior season, Jaret Patterson was not among the running backs selected in this year’s draft. But he has a UDFA deal. The Buffalo prospect agreed to terms with Washington, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.
The 5-foot-9 back torched MAC competition in 2020, averaging 7.6 yards per carry and clearing the 1,000-yard barrier in just six games. Patterson matched his 19-touchdown output of his sophomore season, doing so in seven fewer games.
Patterson reeled off an eight-touchdown, 409-yard performance against Kent State in 2020. For his career, the productive back totaled 52 rushing TDs and 3,884 yards on the ground in three Buffalo seasons. He will join a Washington team that has been unable to establish backfield continuity in recent years.
While Washington has misfired on a couple of backs over the past several years, the team did do well to identify Antonio Gibson in the 2020 third round. Veterans Peyton Barber, Lamar Miller and J.D. McKissic are also on Washington’s roster, though Gibson profiles as the leader of the team’s 2021 backfield.