Doug Kramer

NFL Minor Transactions: 9/8/25

Today’s minor moves:

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

  • Waived from IR: DT Kristian Williams

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Free Agency

Cowboys defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey will now be out through the month of September after landing on IR today. Winfrey has been dealing with a back injury that forced him to miss the season opener. The 25-year-old joined the Cowboys back in June following a successful showing in the UFL.

Free agent defensive back Kemon Hall has been hit with a three-game ban, according to ESPN’s Ben Baby. The suspension would go into effect once the player joins a team. The 2019 UDFA most recently spent the preseason with the Cowboys. He was among the team’s final cuts and subsequently landed on their practice squad, but he was released days later. The 28-year-old has appeared in 24 career games.

NFL Minor Transactions: 9/5/25

Here are Friday’s minor transactions as we await Game 2 of the 2025 season, including today’s standard gameday practice squad elevations for the Chiefs and Chargers:

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Each NFL team is granted two standard gameday practice squad elevations each game, allowing them to call up two members of their practice squad that are able to play in that weekend’s game. After the game is played, the elevated players revert back to the practice squad with no transaction required. This differs from a transaction like we saw earlier today wherein wide receiver Justin Shorter was signed to the Raiders’ active roster from their practice squad. He is now permanently on the team’s 53-man roster until they cut him or until his contract expires.

Practice squad players can be called up a maximum of three times under a single practice squad contract. If the team wants to call up a player who’s been called up three times already, team’s will usually sign the player to their active roster for a game, cut them after, and then sign them to a new practice squad contract. Under a new contract, the player would be eligible to be elevated for three more games.

Bears Activate Jaylon Johnson, Cut Roster Down To 53

The Bears made a flurry of move to trim their roster down to 53 players on Tuesday, per a team announcement, headlined by the activation of Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson from the physically unable to perform list.

Johnson missed all of training camp after injuring his leg during offseason training. Chicago is hoping that he can be ready for Week 1, per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, but the 26-year-old still hasn’t returned to the practice field. Keeping him on the 53-man roster suggests that the team believe he has a good chance of coming back in the first four weeks of the season.

The Bears also activated Tory Taylor to the roster in a procedural move. The Australian-born punter was given an international exemption to give Chicago an extra, 91st roster spot during the offseason, but he cannot keep the exemption and remain on the 53-man roster.

Here are the rest of the Bears’ roster moves:

Placed on injured reserve (designated to return)

Waived/injured

Waived

Released

Homer appeared in 10 games for the Bears in 2024, primarily on special teams. He re-signed in Chicago this offseason and will spent a minimum of four games on the sidelines to start the year as he deals with a calf injury, per Biggs. Ogbongbemiga, also a returning special teams ace, will also be out for at least four weeks after injuring his shoulder.

The Bears tried to trade McFadden before final roster cuts, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, but were unable to find a partner and waived the former Charger.

Pickens and Scott are two 2023 draft picks that will not survive the team’s coaching change. Pickett, the first pick of the third round, started three games last year and appeared in six more with minimal production. Scott, a fourth-round pick, started four games as a rookie before fading into the background with just one reception in 2024.

Richardson is a practice squad candidate after a strong training camp, per Biggs. So is Stromberg, according to Adam Jahn of CHGO Sports. The former Commanders third-round pick will provide depth at center behind Drew Dalman and Ryan Bates.

Kpassagnon followed Dennis Allen to Chicago this offseason and signed a one-year deal with no guaranteed money, making him an ideal candidate to be released and re-signed to the practice squad via a handshake agreement. That appears to be the plan, according to Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times, which will keep the veteran linemen available for early-season elevations to the active roster.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/18/25

Tuesday’s minor transactions:

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

Clapp returns to the Big Easy after three seasons away from the team. Clapp has enjoyed more opportunities to start with the Chargers and Bills over the past three years after only starting seven of 34 game appearances in New Orleans. He’ll likely serve as a reliable backup to Erik McCoy who has missed 19 games in the last four seasons, including 10 last year.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/16/24

Here are today’s reserve/futures contracts:

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Las Vegas Raiders

  • OL Ben Brown, S Tyreque Jones, RB Tyreik McAllister

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

Bears Place C Lucas Patrick On IR

The Bears have placed starting center Lucas Patrick on injured reserve, ending his 2023 NFL season a day early. Obviously, this doesn’t mean much as Patrick will only miss one game and Chicago is already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The move is a common one seen this week as many teams will utilize IR to help lock promising practice squad players down on active roster contracts.

For the Bears, that player seems to be practice squad cornerback Greg Stroman. With Patrick vacating a spot on the active roster, Stroman has signed to the 53-man squad for this week. In two years with the Bears, Stroman has appeared in nine games, making two starts. In each of those two starts, Stroman has recorded an interception. With Stroman now on the active roster, Chicago will have an opportunity to keep him away from free agency in the offseason, essentially guaranteeing him another year with the Bears, if that’s what they agree to.

With Patrick unavailable, practice squad center Doug Kramer has been called up as a standard gameday elevation to provide some depth on the interior offensive line. Joining Kramer as a one-week elevation will be cornerback Christian Matthew.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/17/23

Friday’s only practice squad transactions:

Chicago Bears

Houston Texans

Kramer returns to Chicago after spending a little over a week in Arizona. The Cardinals had claimed Kramer after he was waived in order to make room for left tackle Braxton Jones on the Bears’ active roster. Arizona waived Kramer on Wednesday, and after clearing waivers, Kramer has found his way back to Chicago.

Farniok should find his way onto someone’s roster. The third-year interior lineman started two games for the Cowboys last year and appeared in 19 games over his first two seasons.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/15/23

Wednesday’s minor roster moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

So far this year, Zakelj, the second-year interior offensive lineman, has only appeared in four games on special teams, but the team intended for him to compete with free agent signing Jon Feliciano for the backup center job behind starter Jake Brendel. With Aaron Banks out last week, and with the coaches wanting to get Feliciano more involved at right guard anyway, according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports, Zakelj became a key backup at center. Unfortunately for Zakelj and the 49ers, a torn bicep will require surgery, taking Zakelj out for the remainder of the season.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/6/23

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Bears Activate LT Braxton Jones Off IR

More help is on the way for the Bears’ offensive line as a senior writer for the team, Larry Mayer, reports that Chicago has activated second-year offensive tackle Braxton Jones from injured reserve. After activating starting guard Teven Jenkins a month ago, the left side should continue to improve with the return of last year’s starting left tackle.

Jones became a Week 1 starter as a rookie last season despite making the jump to the NFL from Division I-FCS school Southern Utah. The fifth-round pick adjusted well, starting all 17 games and performing admirably. His sophomore season had a rockier start, though, as a Week 2 neck injury prompted the Bears to exercise excess caution and place him on IR.

In his place, Chicago has returned to a formerly displaced starter in Larry Borom, but through six starts in relief, Borom has consistently ranked in the bottom ten of qualifying NFL tackles in rankings provided by Pro Football Focus. The team took Tennessee rookie Darnell Wright in the first round of this year’s draft but placed him at right tackle, showing their confidence in Jones as their blindside blocker moving forward.

Even now, with Jenkins and Jones finally reuniting with the first-team unit, the Bears’ offensive line is still a bit banged up as starting right guard Nate Davis has already been declared out for the third straight week. Lucas Patrick, who has started in Davis’ place to past two games, will likely hear his name called to play with the starters once again.

In order to make room for Jones on the active roster, the Bears waived fellow 2022 draftee Doug Kramer, who was drafted a round after Jones last year. Kramer spent his entire rookie season on IR and then spent the first six weeks of this season on IR before being activate for Week 7. After only playing two snaps, Kramer sees his way off the roster. If he clears waivers, Chicago may choose to bring him back on the practice squad.

Speaking of the practice squad, the Bears also made the decision to promote linebacker Micah Baskerville from the practice squad as a standard gameday elevation for tomorrow. If he sees the field, it will be the undrafted LSU rookie’s NFL debut.