Kaleb Hayes

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/8/24

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

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • OL Barry Wesley

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

  • LB Brandon Bouyer-Randle, WR Davion Davis, CB D’Angelo Mandell

Jaguars Trim Roster To 53

Teams have until 3pm CT to trim their rosters to the 53-man limit. The Jaguars are getting an early start. Here are the players the Jags cut Tuesday:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on IR:

Placed on reserve/suspended list:

Placed on exempt list:

  • CB Chris Claybrooks

Several of these players will be back, in all likelihood, via practice squad deals. Waiver claims process at 11am CT on Wednesday. Free agents can make plans to join P-squads early, but teams will not have the full picture of who is available until the waiver claims process.

Conner and Ollison being off the roster leaves third-round rookie Tank Bigsby, D’Ernest Johnson and Jamycal Hasty in place behind starter Travis Etienne. The Jaguars chose Conner in the 2022 fifth round, and while they traded James Robinson before last year’s deadline, Conner did not receive much work. He totaled 12 carries for 42 yards as a rookie.

Wells returned to Jacksonville earlier this month, but this IR placement will halt a journey back to regular-season work with his initial NFL team. Wells, 32, started nine games for the Jags from 2014-18. He then worked as a key Buccaneers backup over the past several years. Players placed on IR before the season are not eligible for in-season activations, though an injury settlement could allow Wells to play this season.

Jaguars Sign 11 UDFAs

Jacksonville announced their class of undrafted rookie free agents on Monday. Here is a breakdown of the prospects who will compete to fill out their roster this summer:

Jacksonville had 13 picks in this year’s draft in addition to the above names, so they will have plenty of rookies on hand to add to last year’s successful team. The group includes a number of intriguing names, though no reports have emerged yet with respect to sizeable guarantees in any of their respective contracts.

Ademilola and Coleman are heading into the NFL after very different college journeys, but they each posted notable production. The former totaled seven sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss over the past two seasons, and could find a role for himself as a rotational pass-rusher on the interior after a lengthy career with the Fighting Irish. The latter only played at Ole Miss for one season, but he recorded 4.5 sacks, 8.5 TFLs and three forced fumbles in that time, which could help earn him an extended look.

Of the three receivers signed, Cooks is the largest (6-4, 215 pounds) and most productive of the bunch in terms of 2022 statistics. After five years at Nevada, he transferred to San Jose State and had a career-year. Cooks totaled 1,076 yards on 69 receptions, and led the Mountain West Conference with 10 touchdowns. Those figures far outpaced what he had in all but one of his previous seasons, and could point to potential at the NFL level as a depth option.