Minor NFL Transactions: 1/24/26
Here are today’s minor moves, including standard gameday practice squad elevations for the Conference Championship teams not covered in larger posts:
Los Angeles Rams
- Elevated: DE Larrell Murchison, LB Elias Neal
Seattle Seahawks
- Elevated: RB Cam Akers, RB Velus Jones Jr.
Following a season-ending ACL tear to RB2 Zach Charbonnet, the Seahawks are calling up Akers and Jones to assist recently activated running back George Holani in backing up Kenneth Walker for the NFC Championship game.
Minor NFL Transactions: 1/5/26
Today’s minor moves:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Extended: DE Isaiah Foskey, LB Joe Giles-Harris, TE Cam Grandy, LB Shaka Heyward, S PJ Jules, WR Mitchell Tinsley
Denver Broncos
- Signed from practice squad: QB Sam Ehlinger
- Waived: OT Geron Christian, TE Marcedes Lewis
Detroit Lions
- Extended: OL Michael Niese, RB Jacob Saylors, CB Nick Whiteside
Indianapolis Colts
- Extended: LB Austin Ajiake
- Claimed off waivers (from Buccaneers): LB John Bullock
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed from practice squad: DE Larrell Murchison
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Waived: CB Tre Flowers
San Francisco 49ers
- Practice window opened: WR Jacob Cowing
Each of the players who were extended today received deals that last through the 2026 campaign. These contracts differ from reserve/futures contracts, which don’t count towards the team’s active list until after the Super Bowl.
The Bengals were especially active with these extensions today, handing out deals to a handful of players who could be in line for larger roles next season. Journeyman Joe Giles-Harris got into a career-high 10 games for Cincinnati this season, compiling 27 tackles while serving as a key special teamer. Shaka Heyward (16 tackles) and PJ Jules (18 tackles) saw similar roles for the 2025 Bengals. Mitchell Tinsley got some run on the Cincy offense this season, hauling in eight catches for 116 yards in 17 games.
Rams Activate TE Tyler Higbee Off IR
JANUARY 3: The Rams opened Higbee’s practice window three days ago for a reason. After missing the past six weeks, the 33-year-old veteran has been activated from injured reserve in time for a crucial Week 18 game. With a win and a 49ers loss, the Rams will head to the NFC South winner for the Wild Card round of the playoffs; a loss or Niners win sends them the Philadelphia.
In order to make room for Higbee on the 53-man roster, Los Angeles waived defensive end Larrell Murchison. The Rams also announced that defensive end Jack Heflin and safety Tanner Ingle will serve as their standard gameday practice squad elevations for the final week of the 2025 regular season.
DECEMBER 31: Over a month after placing Tyler Higbee on injured reserve, the Rams have opened the tight end’s practice window, Sarah Barshop of ESPN reports. They’ll have 21 days to activate Higbee.
Higbee suffered an ankle injury in a Week 11 win over the Seahawks, forcing the Rams to shelve him on Nov. 19. Safety Quentin Lake (elbow) and right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle) joined Higbee in going on IR that day. Nobody from that trio has returned to game action since then, and the Rams have fallen from 8-2 to 11-5 without them.
Once the favorites to land the No. 1 seed in the NFC, the Rams will enter a Week 18 meeting with Arizona sixth in the conference. The Rams will secure the fifth seed if they beat the Cardinals and the 49ers lose to the Seahawks.
Now in his 10th season since the Rams took him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, Higbee played a role in their hot start this year. Higbee led Rams tight ends with 318 offensive snaps at the time of his injury, hauled in 20 passes for 190 yards, and scored two touchdowns.
Despite Higbee’s absence, LA’s top-ranked scoring offense has continued to rely heavily on its tight ends. With head coach Sean McVay frequently deploying three-TE sets, Colby Parkinson and Davis Allen have each played upward of 50% of offensive snaps. Second-round rookie Terrance Ferguson has logged a 33.6% snap share in his own right. Higbee at least has a change to rejoin that group in the next three weeks.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/14/25
Friday’s minor NFL moves after a busy week of transactions:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: WR Simi Fehoko
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: CB Keith Taylor
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: G Kendrick Green
Detroit Lions
- Signed: TE Kenny Yeboah
Houston Texans
- Re-signed: S M.J. Stewart, T Zachary Thomas
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: CB Corey Ballentine
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: LB Del’Shawn Phillips
Los Angeles Rams
- Re-signed: DT Larrell Murchison
Miami Dolphins
- Re-signed: WR Dee Eskridge
New York Giants
- Signed: DT Jeremiah Ledbetter
New York Jets
- Signed: P Austin McNamara
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: TE Kylen Granson, LS Charley Hughlett, LB Patrick Johnson, RB Avery Williams
Seattle Seahawks
- Re-signed: WR Cody White
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Waived: P Jack Browning
Tennessee Titans
- Re-signed: C Corey Levin
Washington Commanders
- Signed ERFA tender: RB Chris Rodriguez Jr.
Rams Designate Troy Reeder, Larrell Murchison For Return
The Rams designated linebacker Troy Reeder and defensive end Larrell Murchison to return from injured reserve, per a team announcement.
Reeder started the Rams’ first six games of the season before a hamstring injury forced him on injured reserve. Christian Rozeboom and Omar Speights stepped up and stayed healthy in his place, but neither has been a high-impact defender. Los Angeles has relied more on a young, explosive pass rush to make up for their deficiencies in coverage.
Murchison has dealt with multiple injuries this season. He landed on injured reserve during final roster cuts with an arm injury, but was designated to return via the NFL’s new IR rules. He returned to practice in October, but broke his foot that same week, sidelining him for the rest of the regular season. Each being activated would leave the Rams with no more activations. Teams received two more activations in the playoffs this year; the Rams had used all their regular-season IR-return moves.
Both players will practice with their teammates and work towards playing in the divisional round this weekend, but the Rams defense has been excellent without them as of late. Other than a 30-point outburst by the Seahawks in Week 18, the Rams’ last four opponents have averaged just 8.25 points, and none broke into double-digit territory.
With a full 53-man roster, Los Angeles will have to decide how much Reeder and Murchison will add compared to the players they’d replace. Activating Reeder would make sense; he played 94% of the team’s defensive snaps when he was healthy, and the Rams only have three active inside linebackers. However, Murchison’s practice period will be crucial to see if he can immediately play in the playoffs after a year away from the field.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/4/24
Today’s minor moves in the NFL:
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed to active roster: TE Jody Fortson
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: DL Jonah Williams
- Activated from IR: DT Larrell Murchison
Miami Dolphins
- Released: QB Tim Boyle
New Orleans Saints
- Waived: WR A.T. Perry
The Rams get Murchison back in his third season with the team. The veteran defensive tackle was placed on injured reserve before final roster cuts, but thanks to the NFL’s new return designation rules, Murchison is not forced to miss the entire season. Los Angeles designated him to return when placing him on IR in August, and after opening his practice window on Wednesday, he’ll have the opportunity to debut in Week 5.
Boyle found his way to Miami’s practice squad just before the season began after spending most of his offseason in Houston. Following another concussion for starting passer Tua Tagovailoa, Boyle was called up to serve as an emergency quarterback behind Skyler Thompson and Mike White. With the arrival of Tyler Huntley from Baltimore, as well, the room became too crowded, and it appears that Boyle will be the odd man out.
Perry is being waived shortly into his second year with the Saints. The former sixth-round pick out of Wake Forest only caught 12 passes as a rookie in 10 games last year, but at 6-foot-5, he proved productive with the long ball and in the red zone, averaging 20.5 yards per reception and catching four touchdowns.
Rams Designate Darious Williams For Return
The Rams have been faced with a number of challenges on the injury front this offseason, but help on defense could be coming soon. Cornerback Darious Williams was designated for return from injured reserve on Wednesday, per a team announcement. 
Williams dealt with a hamstring injury during the summer, and it lingered into the start of the campaign. He was placed on IR ahead of Week 1, guaranteeing an absence spanning at least the first four games of the season. The 31-year-old is now eligible to practice at the first opportunity, though, suggesting he could be available in time for Week 5.
After a Los Angeles spell which lasted from 2018-21, Williams took a deal with the Jaguars in free agency. That three-year, $30MM pact saw him serve as a key starter in Jacksonville. The former UDFA was released this offseason with one year remaining on the contract, however, allowing him to return to the Rams on the open market. Williams inked a new three-year deal in the spring, this time worth $22.5MM ($7MM guaranteed).
He will be in line for a first-team role once healthy, something which has been the case so far for fellow free agent pickup Tre’Davious White. The former Bills All-Pro took a one-year deal after his Buffalo tenure was marred by multiple injuries, but he has managed to remain available through the first month of the season and has logged a 98% snap share to date. He and Williams will provide plenty of experience on a Rams defense featuring a number of younger contributors.
The team also opened Larrell Murchison‘s practice window on Wednesday. The fifth-year defensive lineman was designated for return before the roster deadline, using one of the Rams’ IR activations in the process. He made 15 appearances and three starts last season, handling a 25% snap share. With Aaron Donald no longer present along the defensive interior, that figure could increase in 2024 once Murchison is activated.
Rams Pare Roster To Initial 53
Here is how the Rams’ initial 53-man roster looks ahead of Sean McVay‘s eighth season:
Waived:
- OL A.J. Arcuri
- OL Justin Dedich
- RB Zach Evans
- TE Miller Forristall
- DB Tanner Ingle
- DB Shaun Jolly
- TE Nikola Kalinic
- DB Cam Lampkin
- DL Tuli Letuligasenoa
- OL Mike McAllister
- DL David Olajiga
- WR Xavier Smith
- WR Drake Stoops
- DB Jason Taylor II
- OLB Keir Thomas
- OL Zachary Thomas
- OLB Zachary VanValkenburg
- WR Sam Wiglusz
Waived/injured:
Placed on IR:
Placed on IR/return designation:
- OL K.T. Leveston
- DL Larrell Murchison
Despite Los Angeles trading Ernest Jones to the Titans, McVay said the team is not looking around at inside linebacker. The Rams kept kept five off-ball LBs — Christian Rozeboom, Troy Reeder, Jacob Hummel, Omar Speights and Elias Neal — and McVay labeled Rozeboom and Reeder as the team’s expected starters. Rozeboom, a former UDFA out of South Dakota State, has made five starts in his three-season career. Reeder, whom the Rams brought back last year after he spent 2022 with the Chargers, has made 31 career starts. Ten of those came during the team’s Super Bowl LVI-winning season. The veteran played only 192 defensive snaps last season. Both Neal and Speights were part of the team’s UDFA contingent this year.
The Rams’ other major piece of injury news emerged earlier today; Tyler Higbee will make the expected trip to the reserve/PUP list. That will knock out the team’s longtime tight end starter for at least four games. Leveston and Murchison are also sidelined for that span, but the Rams’ IR-return moves will lead to two of their eight injury activations being used before Week 1. The NFL greenlit up to two such moves this year, but the Rams have run out of injury activations in the not-so-distant past, exhausting theirs during an injury-flooded 2022 season.
The nephew of Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, Tre’Vius played 318 special teams snaps as a rookie last year. This development follows Derion Kendrick‘s July ACL tear. The Rams placed Kendrick on IR weeks ago.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/22/24
Today’s minor transactions heading into the weekend:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: CB Ka’dar Hollman
Los Angeles Rams
- Re-signed: DT Larrell Murchison
The Ravens don’t lack depth cornerbacks on their roster, so Hollman will be competing throughout the summer with several others for an eventual roster spot.
The Rams bring back Murchison, who started three games for Los Angeles last year as a rotation lineman. Perhaps with Aaron Donald retired, Murchison will be looking to feature more heavily in the rotation.
NFC West Notes: Cards, Purdy, Rams, Hawks
The Cardinals will be without their 10th-year GM going forward. Steve Keim stepped away from his post for the time being, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes this health-related matter has been on the radar for months (video link). Keim’s future with the Cardinals is “up in the air,” Rapoport adds. This news comes months after Keim agreed to an extension that runs through 2027. Both Keim and Kliff Kingsbury signed add-ons this offseason, though the latter has also run into some turbulence. With Keim stepping away, Kyler Murray going down with an ACL tear and Kingsbury on the hot seat, this has been one of the more disappointing seasons in recent Cardinals history.
Here is the latest from Arizona and the rest of the NFC West:
- Brock Purdy was not throwing during the 49ers‘ Tuesday practice, but the new San Francisco starter is expected to play through his rib and oblique injuries against the Seahawks tonight, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Purdy stayed in Sunday’s game despite suffering those injuries. The 49ers, who have lost both Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo to major injuries this season, have journeyman Josh Johnson — recently signed off the Broncos’ practice squad — in place as their backup. Purdy and Johnson are the only two healthy QBs on San Francisco’s 53-man roster. Garoppolo remains on the active roster, for IR-management purposes, but is unlikely to return this season.
- Shifting back to the Cardinals‘ quarterback situation, Murray is not slated to have surgery until after Christmas, Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com tweets. This is common for ACL surgeries, with the delay helping the swelling subside. Saquon Barkley ended up waiting over a month to have his ACL surgery in 2020 and was ready in time for the 2021 season. Week 1 will obviously be Murray’s goal, but given the through-2028 extension the Cardinals gave Murray this offseason, it would not surprise to see the organization play this cautionsly.
- Thought to be leaving for Matt Rhule‘s Nebraska staff, Rams assistant Jake Peetz is staying in Los Angeles. Peetz turned down an offer to head to Lincoln, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. Currently a Rams offensive assistant, Peetz was believed to have been offered the Nebraska quarterbacks coach job. He was the Panthers’ QBs coach under Rhule in 2020 and is a Nebraska native who played for the Cornhuskers during the 2000s. With Rams OC Liam Coen leaving to be Kentucky’s OC soon, it would not surprise to see Peetz rise on Sean McVay‘s staff.
- The Rams will, however, lose their running backs coach — Ra’Shaad Samples — to the college ranks. Samples is heading to Arizona State to become the Pac-12 program’s wide receivers coach and passing-game coordinator, per Matt Zenitz of On3Sports. This season marked Samples’ first in the NFL. Impressively rising to the level of an NFL position coach at just 27, Samples will return to the college ranks. He was previously SMU’s running backs coach before heading to L.A. Samples also drew coordinator interest at the college level, Zenitz adds.
- McVay’s staff has seen a run of connections to the college level in recent weeks. Prior to Arizona State and Georgia Tech hiring Kenny Dillingham and Brent Key, respectively, the schools were interested in Rams assistants. Tight ends coach Thomas Brown drew interest from the Sun Devils, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler, who adds defensive line coach Eric Henderson was on the Yellowjackets’ radar. A Georgia Tech alum, Henderson, 39, has been with the Rams since 2019. Brown, 36, has been with the team since 2020, joining the Rams after 10 seasons as a college staffer. The latter has generated praise as a rising NFL assistant, so the Rams retaining him is critical.
- The Rams used their high waiver position to claim former Titans defensive lineman Larrell Murchison, but Field Yates of ESPN.com notes the Seahawks and Lions also made claims (Twitter link). Murchison’s rookie contract runs through the 2023 season; the Rams will have a chance to evaluate the former fifth-round pick.