Chiefs Waive CB Lonnie Johnson Jr.
Lonnie Johnson Jr. had a brief tenure with the Texans, and his stint with the Chiefs has now ended before his first regular season contest in Kansas City. Per a team announcement, the corner is among the players being waived by the Chiefs as rosters are cut to 85. 
Johnson, 26, was a second-round pick of the Texans in 2019. He struggled as a rookie, surrendering four touchdowns and a passer rating over 111 in coverage. Despite starting fewer games (five) in his second season with the team, he logged a higher snap percentage. The 2020 season saw improvement in terms of coverage, and his highest career PFF grade, 65.5.
His playing time dropped again last season, though. The Kentucky alum recorded the first three interceptions of his NFL career, but was unable to secure a full-time starting spot and was again rated very poorly by PFF. This offseason, Houston traded him to Kansas City for a conditional seventh-round pick, a disappointing end to his time there.
The CB room has seen plenty of changes this spring for the Chiefs. The team used three draft picks on the position, including No. 21 on Trent McDuffie. They parted ways with Deandre Baker last week, another young corner who has struggled to find his footing in the NFL. That move, coupled with today’s, speaks to the Chiefs’ commitment to their homegrown players on the backend.
In addition to Johnson, Kansas City is waiving receivers Omar Bayless and Gary Jennings, along with offensive tackle Evin Ksiezarczyk. They will now look to find a new NFL home as rosters continue to be trimmed in the build-up to the season.
NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/11/22
A number of players continue to sign reserve/futures contracts, which allows organizations to retain (mostly) young, practice squad players throughout the offseason. We’ve compiled today’s reserve/futures contracts below:
Carolina Panthers
- DE Austin Larkin, OL Austen Pleasants
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
- WR Omar Bayless, TE Jordan Franks, WR Gary Jennings, RB Brenden Knox, FB Lorenzo Neal, WR/PR Matthew Sexton, DT Darius Stills
Los Angeles Chargers
- WR Michael Bandy, DL Andrew Brown, LB Cole Christiansen, DB Ben DeLuca, LB Emeke Egbule, WR Maurice Ffrench, G Ryan Hunter, TE Hunter Kampmoyer, DL Forrest Merrill, WR Jason Moore, OT Foster Sarell
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: C Drake Jackson
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
- QB Blake Bortles, C Cohl Cabral, DT Malcolm Roach, CB Bryce Thompson, WR Kevin White, TE Ethan Wolf
New York Giants
- WR Alex Bachman
Tennessee Titans
- LB Kobe Jones, DB Chris Williamson
Washington Football Team
- FB Alex Armah, RB Reggie Bonnafon
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/13/21
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: CB Corn Elder, S Jalen Julius, CB Rashaan Melvin
- Released: WR Omar Bayless
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: WR Robert Foster , K Lirim Hajrullahu
- Placed on IR: CB Deante Burton, S Darian Thompson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Released: WR Maurice Ffrench
Miami Dolphins
- Released: FB Carl Tucker
New Orleans Saints
- Reverted to practice squad: K Aldrick Rosas, S Jeff Heath
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: S Chris Cooper
Washington Football Team
- Signed: QB Kyle Shurmur
Shurmur will give WFT another option as Ryan Fitzpatrick recovers from his hip injury. For now, this likely means that Taylor Heinicke will serve as their starter. Heinicke stepped in for Fitz against the Chargers on Sunday, completing 11-for-15 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.
Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC South
Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These moves for the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints are noted below.
Here are Wednesday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.
Atlanta Falcons
Claimed:
- G Colby Gossett (from Browns)
Signed to practice squad:
- OL Willie Beavers, LB Quinton Bell, LB Emmanuel Ellerbee, RB D’Onta Foreman, WR Juwan Green, RB Caleb Huntley, S Dwayne Johnson, OL Sam Jones, OL Ryan Neuzil, LB George Obinna, TE John Raine, DL Chris Slayton, WR Austin Trammell, TE David Wells, CB Chris Williamson
Carolina Panthers
Release from IR:
Signed to practice squad:
- WR Omar Bayless, RB Spencer Brown, DL Frank Herron, CB Jalen Julius, WR Keith Kirkwood, CB Rashaan Melvin, OL Aaron Monteiro, QB James Morgan, S Kenny Robinson, WR C.J. Saunders, RB Rodney Smith, TE Stephen Sullivan, OL Sam Tecklenburg
New Orleans Saints
Released:
- K Aldrick Rosas; Rosas is expected to re-sign later this week, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets
Claimed:
- RB Adam Prentice (from Broncos)
Signed to practice squad:
- FB Alex Armah, WR Kawaan Baker, OT Caleb Benenoch, DT Josiah Bronson, DT Albert Huggins, LB Wynton McManis, DB Bryan Mills, DB KeiVarae Russell, WR Kevin White, WR Easop Winston, TE Ethan Wolf
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Signed to practice squad:
- S Andrew Adams, WR Cyril Grayson, QB Ryan Griffin, WR Travis Jonsen, TE Codey McElroy, WR Jaydon Mickens, CB Herb Miller, DL Benning Potoa’e, DL Kobe Smith, RB Darwin Thompson, OL Brandon Walton, TE Deon Yelder
Panthers Set Initial 53-Man Roster
Add the Panthers to the list of teams who have officially trimmed their roster down to the required 53 players. Remember this is only the initial roster, so not everybody who was spared Tuesday will make it through to the regular season after the waiver wire frenzy the next few days.
Here’s the list of players Carolina cut on Tuesday:
Released:
- LB Josh Bynes
Waived:
- QB Will Grier
- RB Rodney Smith
- S Kenny Robinson
- RB Reggie Bonnafon (waived/injured)
- WR Omar Bayless
- RB Spencer Brown
- DL Frank Herron
- OL Mike Horton
- CB Jalen Julius
- WR Keith Kirkwood
- OLB Christian Miller
- OL Aaron Monteiro
- WR C.J. Saunders
- TE Stephen Sullivan
- OL Sam Tecklenburg
Placed on season-ending IR
You’ll probably recognize at least a few names on this list, including Bynes, Grier, Kirkwood, and Bonnafon. Bynes is a veteran linebacker with 117 appearances and 63 starts under his belt since entering the league all the way back in 2011. He started all 16 games for the Bengals last year, but it took him until just a few weeks ago to get signed by Carolina.
Grier is the West Virginia product who had a fair amount of buzz coming out of college. Despite some initial talk that he could get drafted in the first or second-round, he ended up as a third-round pick in 2019. He ended up starting two games for the Panthers as a rookie, struggling mightily while tossing four interceptions and no touchdowns. Carolina is throwing in the towel after just two seasons, electing to roll with only P.J. Walker behind Sam Darnold. Grier should be able to at least end up on somebody’s practice squad.
Panthers Agree To Terms With 17 UDFAs
The Panthers have been busy adding undrafted free agents, as the organization announced that they’ve agreed to terms with 17 rookies:
- Myles Adams, DE (Rice)
- Omar Bayless, WR (Arkansas State)
- Branden Bowen, OT (Ohio State)
- Jason Ferris, LB (Montana Western)
- Sam Franklin, LB (Temple)
- Myles Hartsfield, DB (Mississippi)
- TreVontae Hights, WR (TCU)
- Mike Horton, G (Auburn)
- Jordan Mack, LB (Virginia)
- Frederick Mauigoa, C (Washington State)
- Chris Orr, LB (Wisconsin)
- David Reese, LB (Florida)
- Giovanni Ricci, TE (Western Michigan)
- Austrian Robinson, DT (Mississippi)
- Rodney Smith, RB (Minnesota)
- Cam Sutton, TE (Fresno State)
- Sam Tecklenburg, OL (Baylor)
As the press release notes, three of those free agents (Mack, Sutton, Thompson) officially signed with the Panthers on Monday.
The front office was clearly looking to plug a hole at linebacker, as the organization added five undrafted rookies at the position. While the front office used each of their seven draft picks on defensive players, all those rookies are either defensive backs or defensive linemen.
The Panthers are also making a relatively large investment in Bayless. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the wideout will earn $100K in guaranteed money. The Arkansas State product finished last season with 93 receptions for 1,653 yards and 17 touchdowns.