Kenyan Drake

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 1/12/24

A couple of practice squad updates before the weekend:

Green Bay Packers

The Packers sub out one of this season’s journeymen for another. Long, who has played in at least three games for three different teams this year, returns to Chicago on a p-squad deal after being waived to make room for some injured reserve activations. Drake, who was on his third team of the season in Green Bay, as well, will head to free agency with only two rush attempts on the year.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/16/23

Today’s minor transactions and standard gameday elevations for the Sunday slate of games:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Wilkinson returned to practice this week, and will be eligible to return to the lineup on Sunday given today’s activation. The addition of a starter up front will be welcomed by the Cardinals by giving them stability at the left guard spot in particular and by providing an upgrade in protection ahead of a matchup against the stout 49ers defensive front in general. The Cardinals now have four IR activations remaining.

Street was acquired from the Eagles at the trade deadline after he failed to find playing time this season. The 27-year-old has started all five of his appearances in Atlanta, however, racking up 14 tackles (including four for a loss) and one sack. Those numbers will help his free agent market this offseason, but a pectoral injury will sideline him for at least four weeks. If the Falcons fall short of the postseason, therefore, Street will not return in 2023.

McCain was a full-time starter with the Commanders over the past two seasons, but his release led to a one-year Giants agreement. The former fifth-rounder has 87 starts to his name, but he has been unable to carve out a role in New York’s secondary, playing only 19 defensive snaps. McCain has logged a 50% snap share on special teams, however, so his absence in the third phase will be notable if he is claimed off waivers or signed as a free agent by an interested team.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/11/23

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Green Bay Packers

Miami Dolphins

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

The Packers signed Drake to their practice squad last week, doing so as Aaron Jones continues his rehab from an MCL sprain. The Packers ruled out Jones for a third straight game Monday night. Drake has been with four teams (Colts, Ravens, Browns, Packers) since training camp.

Packers Add RB Kenyan Drake, Claim CB David Long

Enjoying a busy 2023 without seeing much game action, Kenyan Drake has secured an opportunity with a fourth NFL team this year. The Packers are signing Drake, ESPN.com’s Field Yates tweets. Drake posting a Packers logo provided a good indication he has found yet another gig this season.

After being one of the Ravens’ fill-ins during the second season to feature J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards injury trouble, Drake has since bounced from Indianapolis to Baltimore (once again) to Cleveland and now to Green Bay. This is a practice squad agreement. Drake will replace James Robinson on Green Bay’s taxi squad.

Drake, 29, joined the Colts during a training camp overshadowed by Jonathan Taylor‘s absence but did not end up on Indianapolis’ 53-man roster. After losing Dobbins in Week 1, the Ravens brought Drake back. His 2023 season (two games) came in a Ravens uniform. Drake’s Browns stint did not include game action.

In addition to the Drake move, the Packers will become the second team this season to prevent David Long from hitting free agency. Accompanying Drake as a 2023 nomad, the veteran cornerback will join a third team this year. Initially a Raiders free agency addition, Long received his walking papers last month. The Panthers scooped Long up on waivers, reuniting him with former Rams secondary coach Ejiro Evero. After the Panthers cut bait, Long will once again land in a familiar scheme. Packers DC Joe Barry spent four seasons on Sean McVay‘s staff, two of them overlapping with Long.

Long, 25, joins a Packers team that has played without Jaire Alexander for stretches and has seen Eric Stokes land on multiple injury lists. The 2021 first-rounder is again on his way back, but the Packers have not yet activated him from IR. The Pack also traded starter Rasul Douglas to the Bills on deadline day. A regular for the Super Bowl-winning Rams edition two seasons ago, Long has played in 11 games this season. He made one start apiece in Las Vegas and Charlotte, but both teams waived him. Long spent four seasons in Los Angeles, starting 10 games. He played 516 defensive snaps in 2021, when the Rams still employed both Jalen Ramsey and Darious Williams.

As for Drake, he finished last season with 482 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Drake has two 800-plus-yard rushing seasons, with his most productive work coming in Arizona. The former transition tag recipient now profiles as a backup option, but the Packers have been without Aaron Jones for much of this season. After a hamstring injury shelved Green Bay’s starter early this year, he sustained an MCL sprain in November. Jones has missed five games this year. During his most recent absence, AJ Dillon and Patrick Taylor have operated as the Pack’s primary backs.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/31/23

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad transactions in the NFL:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Ravens Cut RB Kenyan Drake From Practice Squad

Kenyan Drake‘s stint with the Ravens has come to an end. Baltimore has released the veteran running back from the practice squad, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.

Drake got into 12 games (five starts) for the Ravens in 2022, mostly out of necessity following injuries throughout their backfield. Following a brief stint in Indy, Drake landed back in Baltimore in late-September following J.K. Dobbins‘ season-ending injury.

The running back earned a pair of promotions during his second stint with the Ravens. He had three touches for 31 yards in Week 3, but a crucial fumble led to limited snaps when he next appeared in Week 5.

Undrafted rookie Keaton Mitchell is now healthy and on the active roster. With Gus Edwards and Justice Hill leading the depth chart, Drake would have been hard pressed to earn a promotion in the coming weeks. The Ravens also still have veteran Melvin Gordon and rookie Owen Wright on the practice squad, so Drake wasn’t even the first option if Baltimore does suffer another injury at the position.

There’s a chance the 29-year-old running back finds a new home before the season is done. Drake isn’t all that far removed from a 2020 campaign where he topped 1,000 yards from scrimmage and scored 10 touchdowns, and he still averaged 4.5 yards on his 126 touches in 2022.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/7/23

Here are the day’s minor transactions heading into Week 5:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Elevated: WR Xavier Malone

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/23/23

Here are the various practice squad elevations and other minor moves from around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

  • Signed to active roster: LB Sam Eguaveon
  • Elevated: OL Chris Glaser

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Ravens Work Out Ronald Jones, James Robinson; Team Signs Kenyan Drake

11:38am: Following this workout, the Ravens decided to reunite with Drake. The veteran running back will return to Baltimore on a practice squad deal, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets. This will continue a partnership that began last season and give the Ravens considerable RB experience on their taxi squad, with Drake and Gordon part of the unit.

9:50am: Down J.K. Dobbins yet again, the Ravens used a Gus EdwardsJustice Hill backfield combination in Week 2. But the team is looking into an outside addition at the position. A running back workout will commence in Baltimore today.

The Ravens are bringing in Kenyan Drake, Ronald Jones and James Robinson for a Wednesday audition, The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec tweets. Each of these players was a recent cut. The Cowboys released Jones this week, rather than activate him after a two-game suspension, while the Patriots and Giants have waived Robinson this year. Drake, who spent last season in Baltimore, did not stick as Jonathan Taylor insurance in Indianapolis.

As of Wednesday, Edwards and Hill are the only running backs on the Ravens’ 53-man roster. Hill is also battling a toe injury that could keep him out in Week 3. The team does have Melvin Gordon on its practice squad, with rookie UDFA Owen Wright joining the ninth-year veteran. While Gordon joined the Ravens this summer, he has not played in either of their two games. Despite Dobbins going down with an Achilles tear, Gordon was not in uniform in Week 2. Edwards and Hill split the carries against the Bengals. While the team was initially not believed to be interested in an outside RB addition, Hill’s issue has changed that thinking.

Drake, 29, helped an injury-depleted Ravens backfield last season. With Dobbins going back on IR and Edwards remaining on the reserve/PUP list well into the season, Drake led the way in filling in. He averaged 4.4 yards per carry and finished with two 90-yard performances, including a 119-yard game against the Giants. The Ravens used Drake, whom the Raiders released late last summer, as their Week 1 starter.

The Colts added Drake after an August workout, and although they were grappling with Taylor’s trade request at that point, the seven-year veteran did not land on their 53-man roster. Drake has spent time with the Dolphins, Cardinals and Raiders. His 1,083 career touches outpace Robinson and Jones.

Injury trouble stalled Robinson’s ascent. Near the end of a second straight productive season in Jacksonville, Robinson suffered an Achilles tear. The Division I-FCS product, who set a rookie UDFA record with 1,414 yards (in only 14 games) with the 2020 Jaguars, was then traded midway through last season. Robinson, 25, did not play a notable role with the Jets, and both the Patriots and Giants waived him this offseason.

Although Jones has two Super Bowl rings now, he has seen other backs do the heavy lifting for those teams. The former second-round pick led the 2020 Buccaneers in rushing (978 yards), but Leonard Fournette moved into position as their primary back during the playoffs. Fournette then took over as Tampa Bay’s starter in 2021. Robinson, 26, has not come close to matching that 2020 showing since. The Chiefs did not use him much during their most recent Super Bowl-winning campaign; Jones took just 17 handoffs last season. He incurred a two-game PED ban in July, and the Cowboys prioritized their less experienced backs over creating a roster spot once the suspension ended.

Colts Release RB Kenyan Drake

Although Colts running back Jonathan Taylor has been given permission to seek a trade and is unsurprisingly garnering plenty of interest, and although fellow RB Zack Moss sustained a broken arm at the end of July that threatens his Week 1 availability, Kenyan Drake was unable to crack Indianapolis’ roster. Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the club has released the veteran back.

Now 29, Drake just signed with the Colts earlier this month. He saw action in each of the team’s three preseason games, though he failed to impress as a runner, accumulating just 36 rushing yards on 13 carries, which amounts to a poor 2.8 YPC average. In Indy’s preseason finale against the Eagles on Thursday, he did exhibit the receiving acumen that has made him a valuable commodity during his NFL career, catching two balls for 22 yards and a touchdown.

Obviously, that was not enough for the Colts to keep him around, and the fact that the club cut ties with Drake while Taylor’s future in Indianpolis is so uncertain perhaps suggests that Moss will be cleared before the start of the regular season. It could also mean that the team is content with its other RB options, a largely unproven group that includes third-year pro Deon Jackson — who has just a 3.3 YPC average in 81 career carries — fifth-round rookie Evan Hull, Jake Funk, and Jason Huntley.

Prior to his short-lived tenure with the Colts, Drake had been with four teams over the last four seasons. Despite that nomadic stretch, he has had productive spurts with each of those outfits. The Alabama product averaged 5.2 yards per carry in his 2019 Cardinals games following a midseason trade with the Dolphins, and Arizona put the transition tag on him in 2020. The then-Kliff Kingsbury-led team used Drake as its top back that year, and he finished with a career-high 10 touchdowns. Drake totaled more than 1,000 scrimmage yards in 2019 and ’20, and the Raiders — despite having drafted Josh Jacobs in the first round of the 2019 draft — gave him a two-year, $11MM deal in March 2021.

Jon Gruden‘s vision of Drake serving as a dynamic pass-catching back complement to Jacobs did not entirely come to fruition, with Drake totaling just 291 receiving yards in the 2021 campaign. The Josh McDaniels-headed Raiders released Drake last summer following failed trade talks, which led Drake to the Ravens. In Baltimore, Drake had several notable performances, including a 119-yard game against the Giants and a 93-yard showing against the Saints. Though he was deactivated for the final few games of the season and the Ravens’ lone playoff contest, Drake finished with 482 rushing yards on a 4.4-YPC rate and made some key contributions to the cause while J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards battled injuries.

Given his history, it seems likely that Drake will get another opportunity at some point.