Bowden will now be searching for the fourth team of his young NFL career. The former third-round pick was traded to Miami before his rookie season began. In South Beach, he recorded 243 yards from scrimmage with 28 receptions and nine rush attempts. After missing his sophomore season on injured reserve, Bowden was waived just before last season and signed to the Patriots practice squad.
The Giants are giving Leonard Johnson a three-year deal, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 tweets. The former Duke prospect suffered a torn ACL while training for the 2022 draft; the Giants worked him out Monday and saw enough to take a flier. While Ford made two starts for the Falcons last season, the ex-UDFA is best known for his special teams work. He saw action on 83% of Atlanta’s ST plays last season, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (via Twitter) the Bengals are giving him a one-year deal worth up to $2.25MM.
Both Scharping and Lonnie Johnson are former Texans second-round picks. The Texans waived Scharping on roster-cutdown day in August, but the Bengals claimed him. Although Scharping only played 30 snaps for Cincinnati last season, the team will keep him around for another run at a backup gig. Months before bailing on Scharping, the Texans traded Johnson to the Chiefs. But Kansas City did not see much from the acquisition in camp and waived him. The Titans picked up Johnson via waivers, using him as a backup. Johnson has experience at both cornerback and safety, and The Score’s Jordan Schultz adds he agreed to a one-year Saints deal (Twitter link).
The injuries continue to pile up in Denver where the Broncos have added pass rusher Randy Gregoryto their lengthy list of players on injured reserve. With the Broncos eliminated from postseason contention, the move brings Gregory’s first year in Denver to an end.
After failing to generate much of a pass rush in 2021, the Broncos ventured out into free agency to bring in Gregory after his initial extension with the Cowboys fell through due to a disagreement over language about bonuses being affected by fines or suspensions in the contract. Instead, the 30-year-old pass rusher signed a five-year, $70MM contract to join the Broncos. His first year in Denver would be a bit of a disappointment, though, as knee injuries would limit Gregory to only six games. Starting three of those games, Gregory was able to compile two sacks, two tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits, and two forced fumbles. Outside linebackers Bradley Chubb and Baron Browning held higher roles on the depth chart until Chubb was eventually traded to Miami.
Despite the disappointing debut in Mile High, Gregory will have next year to rebound and prove his worth to the Broncos. If similar absences due to injury or suspension continue into 2023, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to find Gregory as the subject of one of our posts detailing a potential salary cap casualty.
The Broncos also signed practice squad outside linebacker Jonathan Kongbo to the active roster today. Kongbo’s addition becomes even more crucial with Gregory on IR and Browning questionable this weekend with a back injury. Practice squad cornerback Lamar Jackson was also signed to the team’s active roster, providing depth as the team’s fifth corner.
Additionally, the Broncos promoted linebackers Wyatt Ray and Ray Wilborn from the practice squad as standard gameday elevations for Sunday’s matchup in Kansas City.
Following the Saturday slate of games, we still have four more games this week. Here are the minor moves leading up to the three Sunday games on Christmas Day:
Murphy has missed the last five games for the Cardinals while dealing with a back issue, so while it’s not necessarily a further setback for Arizona, the transaction indicates that Murphy will miss the rest of the season before going into free agency. With Murphy absent, the Cardinals have started veteran Antonio Hamilton across from Marco Wilson.
The Jets added Johnson earlier this month. While the 35-year-old hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since 2018, there was some optimism that he could compete for a spot as Zach Wilson‘s backup. That ultimately wasn’t the case, and with James Morgan also getting waived, the team will roll with Mike White as the second QB.
