Today’s minor transactions:
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Green Bay Packers
Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins
The Packers cut their roster down to 53 players today:
The Packers ended up keeping only a pair of running backs in Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, so the team must be feeling pretty confident that one of their waived RBs will pass through waivers and land on their practice squad. Patrick Taylor would seem to be the favorite for the RB3 role after collecting 25 touches in 2021. Meanwhile, the Packers kept seven wide receivers on their roster, so the release of Travis Fulgham was mostly due to a roster crunch.
The Packers no longer had a need for Ramiz Ahmed, as NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports (on Twitter) that the team activated kicker Mason Crosby off PUP after the veteran passed his physical. Crosby missed training camp and preseason while recovering from offseason knee surgery.
Today’s minor NFL transactions:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
Seattle Seahawks
As players are moved to the PUP and NFI lists and rosters are starting to take shape for the start of training camps, many players are searching for opportunities to make a team.
Here’s the list of players who have received workouts or taken visits today and this past weekend:
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
New England
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
The Panthers are beginning to move their roster toward the 53-man limit. Shortly after the trade for Ryan Santoso, the team cut its incumbent kicker — Joey Slye — and six other players.
In addition to Carolina waiving Slye, the team cut safety Doug Middleton, tackle Martez Ivey, wide receiver Ishmael Hyman, linebacker Paddy Fisher and linebacker Jonathan Celestin. The Panthers waived running back Darius Clark with an injury designation. Of this crop, only Middleton is a vested veteran who can avoid the waiver wire.
[RELATED: Giants Trade Santoso To Panthers]
As evidenced by Matt Rhule trying 65- and 67-yard yard field goals against the Saints and Chiefs last season, Slye has one of the strongest legs in the NFL. His placement on the wire may affect another team’s kicking situation. The wire is currently determined by 2020 record, so the Jaguars and Jets will have the first crack at the young kicker.
Slye, 25, kicked for the Panthers for the past two seasons. He replaced Graham Gano in Carolina. Gano is now with the Giants, who ended up delivering the Panthers Slye’s replacement in Santoso. Slye did miss seven field goals last season, though two of them came from beyond 65 yards. The Virginia Tech product also missed seven tries (25-for-32) in 2019, when he took over for an injured Gano.
A five-year veteran, Middleton played in 10 games with the Jaguars last season as a backup. The Panthers’ roster currently sits at 71 players.
We’ll keep track of the latest reserve/futures deals here:
Carolina Panthers
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Here are Tuesday’s practice squad decisions:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Football Team
Dec. 11: Good news for Carolina, as Samuel, Thompson, and Brown have all been activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list and were back at practice today. They will all be available for the club’s tilt with the Broncos on Sunday.
Dec. 8: The Panthers are now a team to monitor regarding COVID-19. They placed eight players on their reserve/COVID-19 list this week, after two tested positive, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Carolina moved several big names — D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel, Shaq Thompson, Derrick Brown and Greg Little — along with punter Michael Palardy, defensive tackle Zach Kerr and wide receiver Ishmael Hyman to their coronavirus list this week. At least two of these players will miss Sunday’s game against the Broncos, and the rest of the lot will at least miss some practice time this week. It is not yet certain which Panthers tested positive.
While this is certainly an issue, the Panthers do not appear to have the makings of an outbreak. They reported no new positive COVID-19 tests Tuesday, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). The Panthers closed their facility after the positive tests but are scheduled to reopen it Wednesday.
Carolina will host Denver on Sunday. The Broncos saw their bye rescheduled at the 11th hour earlier this season, when the Patriots encountered positive tests. With no teams having more byes, after the Panthers and Buccaneers concluded theirs in Week 13, the NFL’s options would be limited. However, as the recent Ravens outbreak showed, the league will pull out all the stops to ensure games are now played in their scheduled week.
The Panthers are the first team of the day to officially get down to 53 players. The team’s moves are below:
Waived:
Released:
One of the most notable names on the list is Bonnafon, who has been with the organization since 2018. The running back appeared in 16 games last season, rushing for 116 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries. He also hauled in six receptions for 57 yards.
Of course, considering that the NFL was expanded practice squads to 16 players for the 2020 campaign, there’s a good chance that Bonnafon (along with several other players on this list) end up being retained by the organization.
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Oakland Raiders
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans