Today’s minor transactions from around the NFL:
Arizona Cardinals
Carolina Panthers
Los Angeles Chargers
New Orleans Saints
Tennessee Titans
Here are Friday’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Panthers were busy on Sunday morning, making three waiver claims, which tied them for the most of any team. Carolina added cornerback Rasul Douglas, offensive tackle Trenton Scott, and defensive end Shareef Miller. 
Douglas and Miller came from the Eagles, while Scott had been with the Chargers. As Joe Person of The Athletic pointed out in a tweet, the new regime in Carolina has connections to all three of them, which makes a lot of sense as teams are looking for familiarity above all else right now. New Panthers player personnel director Pat Stewart was with Philly the past couple of years, while new offensive line coach Pat Meyer was with the Chargers.
Douglas was drafted by the Eagles in the third-round back in 2017, and he started at least five games in each of the past three seasons. He was a cutdown victim yesterday as Philadelphia chose to purge and start completely fresh in their secondary. He’s had at least ten passes defended in two of three seasons, and had three interceptions in 2018.
Philly drafted Miller in the fourth-round out of Penn State last year, but he was a disappointment and only appeared in one game. Now he’ll get another crack on a rebuilding defense. Scott is a 2018 UDFA from Grambling State who was suddenly thrust into a prominent role with Los Angeles last year after Russell Okung went down with blood clots.
Scott ended up starting nine games protecting Philip Rivers‘ blindside, and played 78 percent of their offensive snaps overall. Now he’ll be reuniting with Meyer as well as Okung, who was dealt to Carolina earlier this offseason. He struggled mightily at times protecting Rivers, but is still only 26 and now has some nice starting experience.
The Eagles’ overhaul of their secondary is continuing. Just moments after it was reported they were cutting cornerback Sidney Jones, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweeted that they were axing fellow corner Rasul Douglas.
Like Jones, Douglas started a handful of games last year, but apparently didn’t have a role in this new-look unit that acquired guys like Darius Slay and Nickell Robey-Coleman this offseason. Douglas was a third-round pick back in 2017, and he started at least five games in all three of his seasons with the team. He won Super Bowl LII as a rookie, although he didn’t see any time at corner in that game.
The West Virginia product was always up and down, and the Eagles clearly want to start fresh in the back half of their defense. The secondary has been a consistent issue the past couple of years, although certainly Douglas can’t be blamed for all of it.
He just turned 25 last week, and with his starting experience should be signed pretty soon by a team in need of corner help. He had 10 passes defended last year, with three interceptions the year before.
The Eagles just traded for a cornerback in Darius Slay, and now they’re looking to ship one out. Philadelphia is shopping Rasul Douglas, sources told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.
Philly drafted Douglas in the third-round back in 2017, and he’s played a pretty big role for them the past few years. He’s started at least five games in each of his three pro seasons. Last year he appeared in all 16 games with six starts, racking up 35 tackles and ten passes defended while playing about 57 percent of the defensive snaps.
He’s been one of the few guys who have managed to stay healthy in the Eagles’ secondary recently, but the acquisition of Slay made him expendable. The West Virginia product is only 25 and won’t make a huge salary in the final year of his rookie deal, but it’s unclear how much trade value he’ll have.
Douglas received poor marks from Pro Football Focus last year and was benched after Week 7, with his defensive playing time being limited after that point. Philly’s secondary has been one of the most injured units in the league in recent years, and they made upgrading it a priority this offseason. They likely won’t be able to get anything more than a late-round pick for Douglas.
The Eagles are expected to “go hard” after cornerbacks in free agency, Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network hears. Philadelphia is projected to have around $44MM in cap space, and the club plans to use a big chunk of that on a CB or two.
The Broncos’ Chris Harris and the Cowboys’ Byron Jones are two of the biggest names being thrown around, and assuming they do not re-up with their current clubs, they will hit free agency with a good shot at a top-of-the-market deal (i.e. $15MM+ per year with upwards of $45MM in full guarantees). However, the Eagles will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to upgrade their CB corps, per Pauline.
Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby are also eligible for free agency, and it’s unclear if the Eagles will bring back either player. They may explore a multiyear deal with Mills, who played decently after returning from injury in Week 7, but it would not be a surprise to see them part ways with Darby. Plus, as Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP.com writes, Philadelphia does not consider Rasul Douglas or Sidney Jones starter material, and both are trade candidates.
As such, there will clearly be room for several cornerbacks on the Eagles’ 2020 roster. In 2019, the team finished in the middle of the pack in terms of pass defense efficiency, per Football Outsiders, and in passing yards allowed per game, so an upgrade is in order. Of course, they did their best to swing a trade for a quality CB (including Harris) at this year’s trade deadline, but they ultimately did not want to part with the type of draft capital that such a trade would have required.
The Eagles secondary is beyond banged up. As the team gears up for Sunday’s game against the Giants, Chandon Sullivan, Cre’Von LeBlanc, and DeVante Bausby stand as the team’s only healthy cornerbacks, head coach Doug Pederson says. 
[RELATED: Eagles Activate DT Timmy Jernigan]
Jalen Mills, Rasul Douglas, Avonte Maddox, and Sidney Jones were unable to take the practice field on Friday. It’s a terrible spot for the Eagles to be in after losing star Ronald Darby to a torn ACL.
To fill the gap, the Eagles have employed reserve wide receivers as cornerbacks in practice. That won’t fly in a real game, so the Eagles may have to make a move or two in the next couple of days. Practice squad defensive back Jeremiah McKinnon may be a leading candidate for promotion, but no decision has been made on that front just yet.
At 4-6, the Eagles are fighting for their playoff lives on Sunday. The Giants have been largely atrocious this year, but they’re riding a two-game winning streak and they’ll be motivated to spoil the Eagles’ season.
The Eagles’ secondary continues to be hit hard by injuries. Cornerbacks Avonte Maddox and Rasul Douglas both suffered knee injuries in Sunday’s 48-7 loss to the Saints, but as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, the maladies are not as bad as initially feared. 
The exact nature of Maddox’s injury is not immediately clear, but it is not believed to be a season ender. Instead, he is week-to-week, and Douglas is presumably in the same boat after his knee injury was deemed to be only a sprain.
In any event, the Eagles can ill afford more injuries in the secondary. The Eagles just lost star corner Ronald Darby for the season and Jalen Mills has missed the last two games with a foot injury. Mills’ status for Sunday against the Giants is murky and the same goes for Sidney Jones after he tweaked his hamstring, so the Eagles could be forced to draw from a group led by Chandon Sullivan, Cre’Von LeBlanc, and De’Vante Bausby.
No matter how things shake out, it stands to reason that the Eagles will sign at least one new corner this week.
Derrius Guice‘s injury delivers a considerable setback to the Redskins‘ running back corps, to the point they may have to consider adding a veteran to the mix. But Jay Gruden did not confirm the team will go in this direction, pointing to the second-round Guice selection being a best-player-available move rather than a need pick.
“We have guys here that can play,” Gruden said Saturday. “We drafted Derrius because he was the best player, we thought, at the time of the draft … not because we weren’t satisfied with the backs we have.”
The primary Redskins starters the past two years, Rob Kelley and Samaje Perine, remain on the team and are now set to be the team’s early-down backs. Passing-down specialist Chris Thompson, though he’s not yet fully recovered from the broken leg he suffered midway through last season, will reprise his role in 2018. Neither Kelley nor Perine surpassed 3.5 yards per carry last season, but Washington’s offensive line became significantly limited by injuries as the season progressed. Kelley fared much better in 2016.
Here’s the latest from the rest of the NFC East:
Aaron Lynch has an opportunity to play the Leo position in the 49ers‘ new 4-3 defense, according to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. That position in Robert Saleh‘s Seahawks-influenced scheme is viewed as the team’s top pass-rushing talent, but Lynch admitted the reports about his weight that surfaced earlier this offseason were true. The fourth-year edge defender clarified the weight struggles he’s having. Branch reports Lynch is currently in the 280s and wants to get down to around 270 pounds, but during his last year in San Francisco’s 3-4 scheme, Lynch ballooned to north of 300. This came during training camp, before he served a four-game suspension for substances of abuse. The then-outside linebacker was notified of a suspension last July. Lynch’s sack total plummeted to 1.5 last season after he registered 12.5 between his first two years.
“I know last year I probably wasn’t as committed,” Lynch said, via Branch. “I mean, I was committed, but I basically [had] some off-field issues, getting suspended and getting hurt. So I don’t think my mind was in the right place as far as how the season was going. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t committed. I’m working my ass off right now. Getting down to the weight I need to get, doing everything they want me to do.”
The 24-year-old Lynch not making weight could result in the 49ers moving on from him, but the team is thin on pass-rushers. Branch writes the team did not draft a “legitimate Leo” candidate until the sixth round (Pita Taumoepenu of Utah), and the Bay Area-based writer isn’t categorizing No. 3 overall pick Solomon Thomas (8.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss in 2016) as such.
Here’s more from the NFC.