Qadree Ollison

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/11/23

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Indianapolis Colts

Pittsburgh Steelers

P.J. Walker has landed back on the Browns practice squad after getting cut from the active roster this past weekend. After spending the offseason with the Bears, Walker caught on with the Browns practice squad to begin the 2023 campaign. He ended up starting a pair of games for Cleveland, including a win over the 49ers. However, his one touchdown vs. five interceptions didn’t spark much optimism, and with Walker firmly behind Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Joe Flacco on the depth chart, the QB was demoted to the practice squad.

The former UDFA out of Temple spent the previous three seasons with the Panthers, starting seven of his 15 appearances. In 17 career games, Walker has completed 54.6 percent of his passes for 2,135 yards, six touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. He’s gone 5-4 in his nine career starts.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/23/23

Here are the various practice squad elevations and other minor moves from around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

  • Signed to active roster: LB Sam Eguaveon
  • Elevated: OL Chris Glaser

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Steelers Move WR Diontae Johnson, RB Anthony McFarland To IR

Coming into this season, Diontae Johnson had only missed two games in four years. He will double his absence count because of a Monday transaction. Johnson is now on the Steelers’ IR list.

A hamstring injury sustained in Week 1 will sideline him for at least four games. Johnson will head to IR for the first time in his career. Pittsburgh making this move before its Week 2 game will allow for its top wideout to come back by Week 6. The Steelers also moved backup running back Anthony McFarland to IR ahead of their Monday-night tilt with the Browns.

Teams are allotted eight IR activations per season. Johnson will undoubtedly be one of the Steelers’ activations. A knee injury sidelined McFarland, whose return timetable is uncertain. Given Johnson’s injury, it would be a bit of a surprise if he were not ready to return when first eligible. Mike Tomlin had recently stopped short of indicating Johnson would miss multiple games.

The former third-round pick became immediately productive for the team — one that has consistently developed second- and third-round receiver picks — and has become the rare Steelers wideout to receive an extension. Although JuJu Smith-Schuster signed a one-year deal after the expiration of his rookie pact in 2021, Johnson joined Antonio Brown and Hines Ward as the only Steelers starting wideouts given multiyear extensions during their rookie deals. Johnson signed a two-year, $36.71MM deal before last year’s training camp, joining A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf, Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel as 2019 Day 2 wideout draftees to sign extensions before the 2022 season started.

Johnson, 27, led the Steelers in receiving yards during each of the past three seasons, helping the team to the AFC North title in 2020 and posting a career-high 1,161 yards in 2021. Last season, Johnson aided Kenny Pickett‘s development but famously did not find the end zone during an 86-catch, 882-yard season. The Toledo alum will need to wait a bit before having the chance to return to the end zone this year.

Pittsburgh will need to lean on George Pickens, the acrobatic catch maven beginning his second season, and trade acquisition Allen Robinson. The 10th-year vet has struggled for the past two seasons, disappointing on a Bears franchise tag and in his lone Rams season. The Rams are paying part of Robinson’s contract. The former 1,000-yard receiver did catch five passes for 64 yards in the Steelers’ opener. Calvin Austin, a slot player who spent last season on IR, also stands to see his role grow while Johnson recovers.

To replace McFarland behind Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, the Steelers elevated running back Qadree Ollison from their practice squad.

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.

Minor NFL Transactions: 2/13/23

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Jacksonville Jaguars

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

  • Signed: LB Marcelino McCrary-Ball

A converted wide receiver, Cager saw the most playing time of his career with the Giants in 2022. In six games, the former UDFA caught 13 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown for the playoff-qualifying team. The 25-year-old pass catcher added two playoff receptions. Cager, whom the Giants picked up around the midseason point, was on track to be an exclusive rights free agent.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/29/22

Here are today’s minor moves from around the league, including the Cowboys’ and Titans’ standard gameday elevations for the season’s last Thursday Night game:

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Tennessee Titans

 

Badie is a rookie sixth-round pick that failed to make the Ravens initial 53-man roster. The 22-year-old had a breakout senior season at Mizzou that saw him rush for 1,604 yards and 14 touchdowns, adding 330 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns, as well. After being waived in the team’s final roster cuts before the season, Badie signed to the Ravens practice squad, where he’s remained all season. Badie adds to the quantity of the Broncos’ room of running backs that currently holds Latavius Murray, Chase Edmonds, and Marlon Mack, as well as fullback Andrew Beck.

The three Titans’ signees are filling roster spots vacated by quarterback Ryan Tannehill and linebackers Bud Dupree and Zach Cunningham, all of whom were placed on injured reserve today.

Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott Out For Week 10

NOVEMBER 13: Unsurprisingly given the team’s moves yesterday, Elliott will be inactive once again. That will leave Pollard with a heavy workload as the undisputed lead back for the second straight week.

NOVEMBER 12: Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is listed as questionable going into this Sunday’s game in Green Bay. The team’s practice squad elevations today may hint at which direction Elliott is trending, though. Dallas is elevating running back Qadree Ollison and guard Dakoda Shepley for tomorrow afternoon’s game.

Ollison has only been called up for one game this season and appeared sparingly, but Dallas’ season trends make the elevation a decision that we can read into a bit more. The Cowboys have had three running backs active in every game this year. Elliott’s questionable designation means that he could technically be active for the game, but if he is, it will be the first game of the year for the Cowboys that they would have four active running backs available to play.

If Elliott is unable to go, Tony Pollard will take the start and the majority of the work on offense. Rico Dowdle was the third back on the roster for much of the season behind Elliott and Pollard before being placed on injured reserve a month ago. With Dowdle out, undrafted rookie Malik Davis served as the third running back for the following two games. With Elliott out last week, the Cowboys were forced to give Davis his first offensive snaps behind Pollard as Ollison made his first appearance of the season as the third back.

If the trend continues, Ollison’s call up points to an inactive Elliott, leading to a second straight game of Pollard as the lead back with Davis and Ollison backing him up.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/29/22

Here are the minor moves leading into Sunday’s slate of games:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/1/22

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: TE Anthony Firkser, TE Tucker Fisk, CB Ka’Dar Hollman

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR Lynn Bowden Jr.

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Signed: LB Davion Taylor

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans