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Raiders Interested In Bill Belichick; North Carolina HC Not Planning NFL Return

January 8th, 2025 at 11:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

11:27pm: This newfound interest notwithstanding, Belichick is prepared to pass. The North Carolina leader is not interested in coming back to the NFL, The Athletic’s Diann Russini reports. Belichick is attempting to focus on recruiting presently, with Russini adding the HC icon’s “sole focus” is building the Tar Heels’ program. This may still be a coaching subplot to follow, but as of now, it does not look like Belichick will be aggressively pursuing a quick Chapel Hill exit.

11:10am: While it looked like Bill Belichick made a preemptive move to pass on the 2025 HC carousel, teams are interested in seeing if he would hop back on for what would be a second straight year. Belichick took the North Carolina top job last month, but he is now being connected to NFL vacancies once again.

The Raiders are among them, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, who reports Tom Brady — who is playing a central role in the Las Vegas HC search — recently contacted his former coach to see about a reunion. A notable buyout number exists in Belichick’s Tar Heels contract, but it would not be a dealbreaker for an NFL team considering what Belichick was earning with the Patriots. At least one other team has inquired as well.

Before June 1, it would cost an NFL team $10MM in a buyout scenario with the ACC school. After that date, the buyout drops to $1MM. The $10MM payment would be due within 180 days, The Athletic’s Tashan Reed adds. This was essentially designed to ensure a Belichick commitment this year, and at his age (73 in April), it is unrealistic to expect too many more connections to NFL jobs beyond this year. That made his Tar Heels decision so surprising, considering the eight-time Super Bowl winner (counting two DC rings) has only coached in the NFL prior to the December decision.

Some at North Carolina are concerned about the buyout scenario, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, who indicates that $10MM figure has not bothered NFL folk. Belichick was earning more than $20MM per year with the Patriots. The North Carolina gig now gives Belichick a true safety school, so to speak, as it would stand to reason he would be interested in an NFL opportunity — were it to come along after a befuddling 2024.

The Raiders fired Antonio Pierce on Tuesday, and veteran NFL insider Josina Anderson reported part of the reason for the delay pertained to two unnamed candidates’ availability. It is possible a feeler to Belichick indicated intrigue, though no interview is scheduled as of yet. The Raiders have thus far sent invites to Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson, with ex-Belichick assistant Brian Flores also on the radar. Considering Belichick’s past with Josh McDaniels, this would certainly be an interesting pursuit.

Indeed, Pelissero adds Brady spoke with Belichick while the Raiders were determining Pierce’s future. It would stand to reason the quarterback-turned-announcer/minority owner’s former boss gave an indication he was interested. Mark Davis turning back to the Patriot Way would be strange given how quickly the McDaniels-Dave Ziegler regime unraveled. But Davis has given Brady considerable authority, certainly signaling he is fine with certain members of the former dynasty.

The college game has changed substantially this decade, with the NIL landscape and transfer portal reshaping all sports — football chief among them. Belichick signing on during this time always made for a strange fit, even with his extensive background running an NFL team. Belichick, however, was believed to be studying the college game as he determined potential NFL fits — notably doing so with McDaniels. No major interest was believed to have come the legendary coach’s way from the league, after the Falcons interviewed him twice last year — being the only team to meet with him about a top job — only to pass on him for Raheem Morris. Belichick was then reported to be “disgusted” with the NFL, setting his sights on the college game.

While the other NFL Belichick suitors are not known, Pelissero mentions the Jaguars as a potential fit. Belichick has a relationship with Tony Khan, the son of Jaguars owner Shad Khan, and was loosely tied to that job earlier this season. A Belichick-Trent Baalke partnership was believed to be a non-starter, but the Jags may well be open to an arrangement in which Baalke slides to a different role in the organization after a four-year run as GM. Jacksonville, however, is also highly interested in Johnson.

The Jets also came up just before Belichick’s Tar Heels commitment. Former Belichick Browns coworker Mike Tannenbaum attempted to set up a meeting between Belichick and ex-rival Woody Johnson. The meeting did not occur. While not much love has been lost between Belichick and his late-1990s employer, now that the coach may be back in play in the NFL a New York meeting would at least be on the radar.

Given how high Davis has been on Brady’s input since his official arrival as a part-owner, the new organizational voice stumping for Belichick would make this a situation to closely monitor. While it would put North Carolina in a bad spot, Belichick saw how other teams viewed him during the 2024 offseason, as the age issue proved significant. This could be his last chance at an NFL gig, so it would be logical if this Raiders avenue would generate appeal.

Raiders Request Interview With Ravens OC Todd Monken

January 8th, 2025 at 9:26pm CST by Ely Allen

Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken can add another team to his list of suitors. After the Bears and Jaguars were reported to have requested interviews with the second-year Baltimore play-caller, Las Vegas is the latest team to have requested permission to interview Monken, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Monken has a wealth of experience coaching offenses at both the NFL and collegiate level. First beginning his coaching journey as a graduate assistant at Grand Valley State in 1989, Monken, 58, has worked for eight different college programs and four different NFL teams. Despite all the experience, he’s only had one head coaching stint, going 13-25 in three seasons at Southern Miss, though he did turn them from a 1-11 team in Year 1 to a 9-5 team in Year 3.

Monken has seen prodigious success in his offensive coaching over years in the NCAA. His NFL success has been a bit more hit or miss. As the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay, Monken’s offenses finished 19th in scoring and 18th in total yards in 2016, 18th in scoring and ninth in total yards in 2017, and 12th in scoring and third in total yards in 2018. The following year he took over a Browns offense that had finished 20th in scoring and 13th in total yards in 2018 and saw both of those places fall to 22nd in his lone year at the helm.

Following these first stints as an NFL offensive coordinator, Monken took the same job at the University of Georgia, where he improved the nation’s 49th-best scoring offense and 61st-best total offense to the fourth- and fifth-best offense in those respective categories in just three years. This collegiate success earned him another chance in the NFL, landing him as the successor to Greg Roman in Baltimore.

Monken, now in his second season as the Ravens offensive coordinator, has drawn praise for helping lead Lamar Jackson to his most productive season to date. Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to surpass 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a season this year, despite significant turnover on the offensive line and the loss of offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris. Under Monken, Baltimore led the league in total offense this season, ranking third in scoring with an average of 30.5 points per game.

Monken’s recent run of success in one of the league’s most prolific offenses will likely continue to garner head coaching attention. Per PFR’s 2025 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker, this is how his competition in Las Vegas is stacking up:

Raiders Request HC Interviews With Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn; Team Expected To Pursue Brian Flores

January 8th, 2025 at 9:29am CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders had let Antonio Pierce speak with the media Monday, only to fire him a day later. The team will now shift focus to replacing another coach. Two big names are on the radar. The Raiders sent out interview requests for Lions OC Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn, SI.com’s Albert Breer reports. Another candidate is also likely to receive an interview slip.

Johnson is taking the interview, with Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz confirming the Detroit play-caller will meet with Las Vegas brass Friday. He is now set to meet virtually with four teams, also being on tap to talk with the Bears, Jaguars and Patriots between Friday and Saturday.

In addition to retaining GM Tom Telesco, the Raiders are set to give Tom Brady a clear voice in this search. That will be an interesting dynamic to monitor, and it also may shape where this search will go. Despite the team firing Josh McDaniels midway through the 2023 season, the Raiders are believed to be interested in another Bill Belichick disciple. The team is expected to pursue Brian Flores, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini tweets.

Counting Rich Bisaccia, Mark Davis has now moved on from four HCs since October 2021. Pierce did receive a longer runway than the Patriots gave Jerod Mayo, as he was Las Vegas’ interim HC for nine games in 2023. But his inexperience showed. It should be expected the Raiders will target a seasoned candidate this time, though without a quarterback answer (and without a top-five pick to acquire one) and after heavy staff turnover this decade, questions loom about this job.

Johnson, 38, having been quite selective in the past will make this an interesting sales pitch on the Raiders’ part; the high-end candidate is again on track to be choosey. The only team on his interview list without a franchise QB hopeful, the Raiders may have a complicated sales pitch to complete.

Glenn, 52, has not been as picky in terms of meetings. Based on Glenn’s docket thus far, a Raiders meeting should be anticipated. Glenn has agreed to meet with four other teams (the Bears, Jaguars, Jets and Saints) this week. The Lions having booked a No. 1 seed means Glenn and Johnson can meet with HC-needy clubs virtually this week, whereas coaches on teams in wild-card matchups must wait until next week for virtual interviews to begin. The Raiders will likely attempt to schedule Glenn and Johnson meetings for this early window.

The Lions have ridden Johnson’s innovative offense to a 15-2 record, building on the climb they made in 2023. Glenn’s unit has stepped up this season. Despite losing Aidan Hutchinson in October, the Lions rank seventh in scoring defense. A fixture on recent HC carousels, Glenn now has real momentum and looks to have his best shot to date at landing a head coaching job.

A Flores pursuit would be quite interesting given his ties to the Patriots. Davis cleaned house on his Patriot Way plan midway through its second season, firing McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler hours after the 2023 trade deadline. Flores worked with both, with he and McDaniels being part of the Patriots’ coaching staff together across eight seasons. Flores, however, has done plenty since leaving Foxborough. He spent three years as the Dolphins’ HC, a tenure that led to a class-action discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams (one that is ongoing).

Flores, 43, has fared well as the Vikings’ DC; the 14-3 team’s defense ranks fifth in scoring. The former three-year Miami HC’s recent work has generated interest from other teams. It should be expected he would take a Raiders meeting — if an interview request eventually surfaces — as he said this week he would honor all interview requests.

Raiders Fire HC Antonio Pierce

January 7th, 2025 at 11:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Two days after the Patriots made Jerod Mayo a one-and-done head coach, the Raiders are following suit. Antonio Pierce‘s stay as a full-time Raiders HC will be capped at one season, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reporting the team is firing its interim-turned-full-time coach.

Rumblings about a Pierce ouster have steadily come out for weeks, with the former Super Bowl-winning linebacker struggling during a 4-13 season. Pierce had impressed in 2023, winning over the locker room — to the point players voiced strong support for his full-time candidacy — after a 5-4 finish. He will not have a chance to rebound from this disappointing campaign, despite Las Vegas winning two of its final three games.

Some Raiders players kept voicing support for Pierce after the season ended, ESPN’s Adam Schefter adds, but ownership did not give into any such pushes this year. Maxx Crosby memorably was tied to a trade request if the Raiders did not promote Pierce, with Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams stumping for the unusual HC candidate as well. Mark Davis listened at that point, being fond of Pierce’s style and appreciation for the organization’s history. Pierce still brought an atypical background for the job, as we detailed in our Offseason In Review piece, having never been an NFL coordinator or college HC. His inexperience showed.

This will not be a full-on teardown. The Raiders are not firing GM Tom Telesco, Schefter adds. GMs typically receive fewer second chances but are more generally given more time than head coaches. Telesco is one of just two active second-chance GMs, and he will receive a second Raiders season. That said, minority owner Tom Brady is expected to play a big role in the Raiders’ 2025 offseason. That stands to strip some power from Telesco.

At least two unknown candidates have caught the Raiders’ eye, with Bovada’s Josina Anderson reporting the availability of these coaches helped cause the delay in the franchise firing Pierce. The team was linked to ex-Brady teammate Mike Vrabel recently, but the Patriots are also expected to complete a strong pursuit of their former linebacker. It would stand to reason Davis will target experience with his next hire, but the past few years have not been good for the second-generation owner.

Davis had convinced Jon Gruden to come out of the broadcast booth to sign a 10-year contract in 2018, but problematic emails surfacing led the second-stint Raiders HC out of town. Gruden had missed the playoffs in his first three seasons back, though his 2021 team — with interim leader Rich Bisaccia at the controls — qualified and nearly upset the eventual AFC champion Bengals. Davis expressed regret over passing on Bisaccia, helping Pierce’s chances. Pierce did make the interesting leap of being a Josh McDaniels hire that impressed. Davis canned McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler 1 1/2 seasons into their tenure. He is still paying McDaniels’ contract, and Pierce will still draw a Raiders salary going forward.

A Monday report pointed to disagreements between Pierce and Telesco continuing into the season, with the quarterback position at the heart of this friction. Pierce had pushed for a QB-driven trade-up move, but Telesco was in the camp of retaining the team’s draft picks rather than mortgaging future pieces. While the GM’s side may be up on the scorecards early in this fight — thanks to Brock Bowers‘ historic season — Pierce was forced to coach a bottom-tier quarterback situation. The Raiders used Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder this season.

The former Arizona State DC sought a reunion with ex-Sun Devils starter Jayden Daniels, and the Raiders almost certainly were the team to make the Commanders an offer — the only one they received — for No. 2 overall. Moving from No. 13 to No. 2 was never too realistic, but the Raiders standing pat also cost them target Michael Penix Jr. The team was high on Penix but did not view the southpaw passer as worth trading up for; ditto Bo Nix, who ended up in Denver at No. 12. The Raiders took Bowers, who looks like an instant star, but enter the offseason in dire need at QB.

Like Mayo, Pierce inherited a difficult situation. The Raiders traded Adams early this season, leaving them with both a QB deficiency and a lack of playmakers. Las Vegas’ offense ranked 29th offensively, as Pierce fired OC hire Luke Getsy midway through the season, after Kliff Kingsbury backed out of a deal. Patrick Graham‘s defense finished 25th in points allowed. The 2023 team had climbed to ninth, marking the only time since the Super Bowl XXXVII season the franchise had finished in the top half in scoring defense. How Pierce assembled his staff also generated internal scrutiny, and he was not exactly praised for game management, either.

As for where the Raiders will go post-Pierce, Schefter notes Brady is indeed on the search committee. Considering Davis’ comments regarding the legendary QB’s role in terms of fixing that position, it is unsurprising Brady will help pick the coach. Approved as part-owner after more than a year of waiting, Brady has been mentioned as being set to play a central role in the HC search — even as his FOX Super Bowl responsibilities will interfere on this front. As of now, Brady remains in the historically unusual spot of broadcasting through significant limitations; the Raiders appear to be planning to make that worth his while via rare (for a minority owner) opportunities in personnel.

Pierce, 46, did not bring a play-calling acumen to the Raiders. Davis was burned by the two previous coaches who did, however, with the McDaniels mistake stinging fast. It will be fascinating to see which direction the Raiders go now. Pierce snapping a 10-game losing streak with wins over the Jaguars and Saints will hurt the Raiders moving forward, as they slid from the No. 1 overall draft slot to No. 6. A push for Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward will likely require another trade-up effort.

Davis’ recent quick-trigger firings, and the team’s quarterback situation, will not make this a particularly appealing job. The presences of Andy Reid (and Patrick Mahomes), Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh in the AFC West also will create a daunting task for Pierce’s successor. It looks like Davis is counting on Brady to be a difference-maker in the Raiders’ uphill battle, though luring Vrabel to the desert will not be easy.

Telesco will now have a chance to make a hire, though that was not his strong suit in Los Angeles. Telesco hired Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn and Brandon Staley — coaches who did not impress, with the Raiders viewing the GM’s rosters as better than the results — and was fired after a 63-21 loss in Las Vegas in December 2023. How Brady’s presence will impact Telesco’s role will be a key Raiders storyline as well, as Davis will certainly face pressure to land his next hire after essentially passing on a true coaching search in 2024 to hire Pierce.

Already admitting what he has deemed a mistake, Davis will try again. No Raiders coach has lasted more than four years on the job since Art Shell‘s first stint, which occurred well before the younger Davis assumed control. The search for elusive HC stability persists.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/7/25

January 7th, 2025 at 8:39pm CST by Ben Levine

Many teams have started signing players to reserve/futures contracts, allowing the organization to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players through the offseason. Here are the latest reserve/futures contracts:

Arizona Cardinals

  • DE Anthony Goodlow, OL Sincere Haynesworth, RB Zonovan Knight, NT P.J. Mustipher

Atlanta Falcons

  • WR Makai Polk

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

  • TE Jordan Murray

Cincinnati Bengals

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

  • DL Tyler Manoa

Miami Dolphins

San Francisco 49ers

Bengals To Interview Patrick Graham, DeMarcus Covington For DC Job

January 7th, 2025 at 12:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

Narrowly missing out on a playoff berth after entering the season with Super Bowl aspirations, the Bengals fired longtime defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo on Black Monday. They are moving on a replacement search quickly.

Cincinnati is look to two candidates who came off worse seasons, in eyeing the Las Vegas and New England staffs. Raiders DC Patrick Graham and Patriots DC DeMarcus Covington received interview slips from the Bengals, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, and both candidates intend to interview.

Graham is set to meet about the position today, while Pelissero notes Covington’s meeting is on tap Wednesday. Teams can block coordinator lateral moves, so long as they do not involve a non-play-calling coordinator receiving that chance elsewhere, but Graham is no longer under contract with the Raiders. He is free to interview. With the Patriots again in transition, they have given Covington permission to make this potential lateral move.

The Patriots made a quick change, firing Jerod Mayo after previously promoting him without conducting a search. With Mayo having promoted Covington from D-line coach, this leaves the 2024 Pats DC on shaky ground. Featuring this century’s most dependable NFL unit (on the whole) during Bill Belichick‘s 24-year run in charge, New England’s defense dropped to 22nd in scoring and yardage under Covington. This came despite Christian Gonzalez‘s return to full strength. The Patriots did trade Matt Judon just before the season, however.

After the Raiders snapped a streak of finishing outside the NFL’s top half in scoring defense for more than 20 years — via the Graham-led unit’s ninth-place result in 2023 — the team closed in the 25th spot this season. That said, Las Vegas’ offense did not give Graham too much to work with; the Raiders ranked 15th in total defense for the second straight year.

Graham, 45, has much more experience — as he has been the DC with the Giants and Dolphins previously — and is on the Jaguars’ HC interview list. Both Graham and Covington, 35, are ex-Belichick assistants; though, they did not overlap in New England. The Bengals will see what each brings to the table soon.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/6/25

January 6th, 2025 at 7:29pm CST by Ben Levine

With the regular season having come to an end, many teams have started signing players to reserve/futures contracts. This allows organization to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players. Here are the latest reserve/futures contracts:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Latest On Raiders, HC Antonio Pierce

January 6th, 2025 at 10:50am CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders stumbled to a 4-13 finish, dropping a one-sided Chargers rematch after winning two straight. This dropped the Silver and Black out of the top five in the draft order, which will impact the team’s ability to select one of the top quarterbacks in this year’s prospect pool.

Antonio Pierce remains in place as the Las Vegas HC, but rumors about a potential firing persist. Many around the league expected an ouster after Week 18. With Black Monday upon us, Pierce has thus far avoided it. But a dismissal may be close. Pierce is “absolutely” not safe, per Outkick.com’s Antonio Salguero.

Mark Davis met with Pierce after the Raiders’ loss to the Bolts, and another meeting may well be on tap for Monday morning. The Raiders placed Pierce in a difficult position this season, outfitting him with a bottom-tier quarterback situation. Pierce had pushed for a monster trade-up for Jayden Daniels, and while the Raiders were most likely the team that sent the Commanders the only offer for No. 2 overall, a 13-to-2 move-up was never viewed as realistic. The team’s inability to land a better QB option looks to have created issues between Pierce and GM Tom Telesco.

A report in April indicated the HC and GM disagreed on a quarterback trade-up, with Pierce landing in the camp that one was necessary. He may well have been right, as the Raiders ended up shut out of the 2024 first round. They deemed target Michael Penix Jr. a player of interest, just not one they viewed as worthy of a trade-up. Brock Bowers‘ arrival looks good on Telesco’s resume, but the Raiders now need a quarterback in what appears to be a worse offseason to do so. They sit sixth in the 2025 draft, and supply and demand points to Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward being off the board by then. Another trade-up effort may be required if the Raiders want either player.

Pierce-Telesco disagreements do not look to have ceased after the Bowers pick. Pierce privately continued to express disappointment over the QB situation he was handed, Salguero notes, indicating friction between he and Telesco continued into the season. This could well end up keying a Pierce firing, which will obviously not go over well with the former linebacker-turned-HC given the hand he was dealt. That said, Pierce does not bring a tactical background and needs both offensive and defensive play-callers. He also fired OC Luke Getsy midway through their first season together. Will Davis give his HC the chance to hire a new play-caller on that side of the ball?

Players stumped for Pierce last January, as he had gone 5-4 as Vegas’ interim HC. This year’s 4-13 outing has him squarely on the hot seat. Minority owner Tom Brady also looks likely to snare some of Telesco’s decision-making power, with Davis expected to turn to the legendary QB-turned-announcer for help to fix the quarterback situation. Brady is also on track to have a major say on the HC matter, though his Super Bowl LIX responsibilities with FOX may interfere on the latter front. Despite Pierce making it into Black Monday (unlike Jerod Mayo), he may not end the day as the Raiders’ HC.

Updated 2025 NFL Draft Order

January 5th, 2025 at 10:58pm CST by Adam La Rose

Once again, we saw plenty of change occur in the projected draft order after Sunday’s games. Most notably, the Patriots took themselves out of the top overall draft slot with a win over the resting Bills. While this change likely won’t hurt their ability to select one of the players that interested them most, as they likely weren’t looking to select a quarterback with rookie Drake Maye in place, New England likely could’ve benefitted from collecting some serious draft capital trading out of the top spot to any of the teams seeking quarterback help next season.

One of those quarterback-needy teams, the Titans have officially secured the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, tying for the worst overall record in the league with the Browns and Giants but holding tiebreakers over both franchises. The Browns and Giants, who both secured the second and third overall picks, respectively, today, are also considered top candidates to draft a passer.

With all three teams at the top of the draft interested in adding help at quarterback, the draft’s top two prospects at the position, Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, saw their chances at getting selected No. 1 overall rise dramatically. Plenty could still occur to change this situation; trades could alter the draft order, and further pre-draft evaluations could change opinions on top prospects.

Still, for the first time since the league expanded to 32 teams in 2002, there is a chance that every team drafts in the first round, as no first-round picks have yet been traded. It’s extremely unlikely that this will remain the case, as draft-day trades are a very common occurrence, but it’s still an interesting concept to note this close to the draft.

For non-playoff teams, the draft order will be determined by the inverted 2024 standings — plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule — with playoff squads being slotted by their postseason outcome and regular-season record. Here is how the draft order looks at the regular season’s conclusion:

  1. Tennessee Titans (3-14)
  2. Cleveland Browns (3-14)
  3. New York Giants (3-14)
  4. New England Patriots (4-13)
  5. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-13)
  6. Las Vegas Raiders (4-13)
  7. New York Jets (5-12)
  8. Carolina Panthers (5-12)
  9. New Orleans Saints (5-12)
  10. Chicago Bears (5-12)
  11. San Francisco (6-11)
  12. Dallas Cowboys (7-10)
  13. Miami Dolphins (8-9)
  14. Indianapolis Colts (8-9)
  15. Atlanta Falcons (8-9)
  16. Arizona Cardinals (8-9)
  17. Cincinnati Bengals (9-8)
  18. Seattle Seahawks (10-7)
  19. Houston Texans (10-7)
  20. Denver Broncos (10-7)
  21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-7)
  22. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)
  23. Los Angeles Rams (10-7)
  24. Green Bay Packers (11-6)
  25. Los Angeles Chargers (11-6)
  26. Washington Commanders (12-5)
  27. Baltimore Ravens (12-5)
  28. Minnesota Vikings (14-3)
  29. Buffalo Bills (13-4)
  30. Philadelphia Eagles (14-3)
  31. Kansas City Chiefs (15-2)
  32. Detroit Lions (15-2)

Ely Allen contributed to this post.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/4/25

January 4th, 2025 at 9:47pm CST by Ely Allen

The last minor moves and standard gameday elevations of the 2024 NFL regular season:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Ross’ new deal to the Texans’ 53-man roster is good through the 2025 season, as well. Ditto for Jones, signed to the active roster in New England today.

Sanders returned to practice this week, and his activation will allow him to close out his second Panthers season on the field rather than on the mend. His Carolina tenure has fallen well short of expectations and a release in the near future could be in the cards. Given the team’s backfield injuries, though, Sanders could handle a notable workload tomorrow while potentially auditioning for free agent suitors.

Gilman’s return will be welcomed by the Chargers’ defense. The 27-year-old has remained a full-time starter this season, his second straight handling first-team duties. Los Angeles is assured of a wild-card spot, but moving up to the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff picture could be possible on Sunday. In any case, Gilman’s presence will be key for a Bolts defense which leads the league in points allowed per game (17.6).

Gardner’s campaign will come to an end after 15 games played. He fell short of a Pro Bowl nod for this first time in his young career, but the fourth pick of the 2022 draft remained a critical member of the team’s secondary when healthy. Gardner is eligible for an extension this offseason, and his financial future (which will include a fifth-year option decision in the spring) will be a key point of focus once New York’s head coach/general manager tandem is in place.

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