November 18th, 2025 at 11:16am CST by Adam La Rose
Jesse Luketahas yet to play in 2025. That situation is set to change shortly, however, as the fourth-year linebacker has a deal in place.
Luketa is set to sign with the Rams today, veteran insider Jordan Schultz reports. A thigh injury ended his 2024 campaign and with it his tenure with the Cardinals. The former seventh-rounder is now healthy, though, and he will look to establish a role for himself in Los Angeles down the stretch.
The 26-year-old Canadian made 31 appearances and three starts across his time with Arizona. Luketa primarily operated on special teams during that time, but he saw an increase in defensive workload with each passing season. In 2024, the Penn State product set a new career high in a number of categories, totaling 21 tackles and three sacks while adding one forced fumble.
At 8-2, the Rams lead the NFC West and currently occupy the conference’s No. 2 seed. Los Angeles can be considered a serious contender at this point, and adding further on defense represents a logical post-trade deadline priority. The Rams had already made a midseason move on that side of the ball by way of the Roger McCrearytrade.
Los Angeles entered Tuesday with over $13MM in cap space. As a result, signing Luketa – who visited the Ravens last month – will not be a challenge, nor will it alter any other moves which may be planned over the closing stages of the regular season. It will be interesting to see how Luketa is used with his new team as he looks to boost his 2026 free agent stock.
The Patriots are shaking up their linebacker corps after DariusHarris landed on the practice squad IR today. The veteran got into three games with the big-league club in 2025, collecting four tackles while playing exclusively on special teams. Harris had a four-year stint with the Chiefs to begin his career, including a 2022 campaign where he tallied 43 tackles and 1.5 sacks. To take his place on the taxi squad, the Patriots added OtisReese, who got his NFL start playing under MikeVrabel in Tennessee. The Ole Miss product got into 20 games with the Titans between 2023 and 2024, collecting 38 stops.
With the 49ers set to see their starting quarterback return, Martinez’s presence on the 53-man roster is no longer necessary. He’ll likely find his way back to the team’s practice squad.
The Panthers’ two elevations, Barnes and Mukuamu, are direct reflections of injury absences for tomorrow’s game. With Trevin Wallace and Lathan Ransom ruled out for Sunday, Carolina made the decision to call up another player at each position.
Mevis will once again be called upon for kicking duties in Los Angeles. In his NFL debut last week, he was untested in terms of field goal attempts, but he converted all six extra point attempts in a blowout win in San Francisco.
Kamara in Tampa Bay is being called up for the third time this season. If the Buccaneers intend to play him in another game this year, they’ll need to sign him to the 53-man roster, much as the Ravens did after Bryan exhausted all three of his standard gameday practice squad elevations.
In August 2024, Alaric Jacksonwas issued a two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Few details were in place at the time, but that has now changed.
Jackson has been named in a civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by a Philadelphia woman. The unnamed plaintiff alleges that Jackson “recorded her without her consent during sex” and then refused to delete the video despite repeated requests that he do so, as detailed by ESPN’s Paula Lavigne. The NFL declined to comment on the matter, deferring to the 2024 suspension. Jackson’s agent also declined comment.
The lawsuit states the plaintiff visited Jackson in Los Angeles in May 2024, and that she knocked his phone away during sex upon realizing she was being recorded. Per the suit, the plaintiff returned home the following day. Before and after doing so, she demanded Jackson delete the video. Jackson allegedly declined to do so despite saying he had at one point (before sending it to her one day later).
Attorneys representing the plaintiff stated it does not appear as though Jackson has posted the video online at any point or that he has shared it with anyone else. The woman made contact with the Los Angeles Police Department but declined to pursue criminal charges. She also reported the incident to the NFL, which resulted in the subsequent league investigation and suspension.
A former UDFA, Jackson has made each of his 50 career appearances with the Rams. The 27-year-old has logged 44 starts, including nine this year after managing to heal from a blood clots issue in time for Week 1. In February, Jackson inked a three-year, $57.75MM deal to remain in Los Angeles. He is in line to continue handling blindside duties for the foreseeable future as a result.
The Panthers waived White from their practice squad on Nov. 8, but the team quickly brought the veteran signal-caller back. White will continue to provide experienced depth behind Bryce Young and Andy Dalton. He served as the Panthers’ emergency third QB in their Week 9 win over the Packers.
The Titans will have 21 days to activate Brown and Mullings after opening their practice windows. Brown worked exclusively on special teams over four games before going on IR with a knee injury on Oct. 4. Mullings, a sixth-round rookie from Michigan, appeared in two games but didn’t record any offensive snaps before an ankle injury sent him to IR on Sept. 26.
The 2024 offseason brought a change in how teams could construct their 53-man rosters while retaining flexibility with injured players. Clubs were permitted to attach return designations to two players (in total) placed on IR or an NFI list before setting their initial rosters.
In prior years, anyone placed on IR before a team set its initial 53-man roster could not be activated in-season. All August 26 IR- or NFI-return designations, however, already count against teams’ regular-season limit of eight. Teams will be tasked with determining which players injured in-season will factor into activation puzzles as the year progresses.
All players designated for return on August 26 became eligible to be activated beginning in Week 5, though any player placed on IR after a team set its initial 53 has not been designated for return and therefore does not yet count toward a club’s eight-activation limit. Playoff teams will receive two additional injury activations once the postseason begins.
Here is how the 32 teams’ activation puzzles look for Week 12:
Week 10 will mark the debut for both players the Chargers gave the IR-designated for return label during roster cutdowns in August. Their activations had already been accounted for, but Hand’s had not. With those three now back in the fold, the Bolts have three IR activations remaining on the season.
The results of the Rams’ midseason kicking competition are in.
Head coach Sean McVay announced that Harrison Mevis will get the nod over Joshua Karty on Sunday, per ESPN’s Sarah Barshop. Mevis was signed this week after Karty converted just 10 of his 15 field goal attempts in the first eight games of the season. Three of his five misses came inside 40 yards, a clear step back from his 2024 rookie season that featured just five misses all year. Karty has also missed three extra points on 26 attempts this season after missing only four on 32 attempts last year.
However, McVay also that Karty “isn’t going anywhere,” indicating that the kicking job may be assigned on a week-to-week basis until one of the two clearly wins the job.
The Rams will be going with a different long snapper in Week 10, as well. Alex Ward has held the job for the last three seasons, but 14-year veteran Jake McQuaide was re-signed by the Rams this week and will play on Sunday. McQuaide was the Rams’ long snapper from 2011 and 2020, a period that included the franchise’s move from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is clearly trying to experiment with a new kicking battery to figure out their best combination for the rest of the season. Karty has two years remaining on his rookie contract, but it would cost the Rams virtually nothing to move on from him this year. That could give Mevis, who has never kicked in the regular season, a chance to secure the kicking job this year and potentially into the future.
Ward, meanwhile, is in the final year of his UDFA contract and will not be worth a restrict free agent tag in the spring. Like Karty, his contract is not an obstacle to releasing him. However, McQuaide is 37 years old and may be close to retirement, which would force the Rams to find another long snapper next year and potentially put them in a similar position to their current one.
The NFL’s latest trade deadline featured eight Tuesday trades, but a total of 22 in-season swaps occurred this year. Some teams made multiple trades; several others stood pat. Two of the biggest trades in deadline history went down this week.
As we detailed Wednesday in the latest Trade Rumors Front Office post, the Jets’ perspective brought strong value for young players toiling on a downtrodden team. The three first-rounders plus the 2026 second will give New York’s new decision-makers a chance to retool while having assets to either find a quarterback in the draft or trade for a veteran. While it will be difficult to replace Gardner and Williams, the Jets’ Darren Mougey-Aaron Glenn regime made the decision to cash in their top assets to launch a true rebuild — one that suddenly features plenty of QB ammo.
From the Colts’ perspective, Gardner brings an accomplished starter at a young age. Indianapolis received a player signed through 2030, though New York’s contract structure on the July extension limited the Gardner dead money to $19.75MM — far less than the Dolphins just took on for Ramsey or what the Saints absorbed upon trading Marshon Lattimore last year.
The Colts, after building from within for years, now have three high-cost DB contracts added this year in the Gardner accord and those given to Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum. Tied for the best record in the AFC (at 7-2), the Colts made a move and watched the Patriots, Broncos, Bills and Chiefs hold off on buyer’s trades.
Dallas’ stance is a bit more complicated. The Cowboys went from trading Micah Parsons for two first-rounders ahead of his age-26 season to acquiring Williams, who will turn 28 in December. The team still has three first-round picks between 2026 and ’27, but sending the higher-value ’27 first to the Jets strips away a prime asset for a player not on Parsons’ level.
Jerry Jones harped on the team’s run defense upon acquiring Kenny Clark in the Parsons trade, but that unit has faceplanted this season. Williams joins Clark and Osa Odighizuwa in a suddenly pricey Dallas D-tackle corps, and the longtime Jet had angled for a contract rework — something the Cowboys may now have to navigate.
The Cowboys also addedLogan Wilson, after trying to grabQuincy Williams from the Jets in a two-brother trade, but the younger Williams brother represents the obvious talking point here. Dallas’ interior D-line is well stocked. Will Quinnen Williams help transform a sub-.500 Cowboys team in the way Amari Cooper did after the team surrendered a first at the 2018 deadline?
Meyers will help the Jags replace Travis Hunter and provide some stability in a receiving corps also dealing with a Brian Thomas Jr. injury. Shaheed joins a surging Seattle squad, reuniting with 2024 New Orleans OC Klint Kubiak, and will be an interesting complementary piece for All-Pro candidate Jaxon Smith-Njigba. With Smith-Njigba, Shaheed, Cooper Kupp and rookie Tory Horton, the Seahawks look to have one of the NFL’s best receiving cadres.
Jacksonville also engaged in a cornerback swap, prying contract-year cover man Greg Newsomefrom the Browns in October. Newsome has started two games with the Jags and has incentive to perform well this season, as he is uncontracted for 2026. Tyson Campbell is signed through 2028, giving the Browns some cost certainty — albeit now carrying two upper-crust CB contracts, along with Denzel Ward‘s — at a premium position.
Cleveland did not aggressively sell, keeping its guards, David Njoku and other rumored trade assets, though they did do Joe Flacco a solid — to Mike Tomlin‘s chagrin — by trading the demoted QB within the division. Flacco immediately became the Bengals’ starter and has rejuvenated Cincy’s offense.
The Rams quietly bolstered their CB contingent by obtaining Titans contract-year slot playerRoger McCreary, while Tennessee also sent Dre’Mont Jones to Baltimore. The Ravens added Jones and Alohi Gilman, the latter becoming an immediate starter and helping maximize All-Pro Kyle Hamilton. Jones, who has 4.5 sacks this season, replaces Odafe Oweh — traded to the Chargers in the Gilman swap — in Baltimore’s OLB rotation. A former 3-4 defensive end, Jones gives Baltimore some pass rush options after Gilman supplied them with a deep safety. Gilman is also in a contract year.
While the Dolphins did not dive into full sales mode, retaining Jaylen Waddle and Bradley Chubb, after parting with longtime GM Chris Grier, they did obtain a third-round pick for Phillips — who is in his fifth-year option season. The Chargers also added two more trades before the 3pm buzzer Tuesday, most notably addingTrevor Penning — a three-position starter for the Saints — for a late 2027 draft choice. A contract-year blocker, Penning will be an option for a battered Bolts’ tackle corps.
The Steelers’ long-rumored wide receiver quest did not lead to a deal, but the team did add veteran safetyKyle Dugger, who had fallen out of favor with the Patriots despite signing an eight-figure-per-year extension as a transition-tagged player in 2024.
Who do you think did the best job at this year’s deadline? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section.
