HEADLINES

Troy Andersen

NFL Minor Transactions: 7/24/25

July 24th, 2025 at 8:14pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Miami Dolphins

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Signed: G Michael Jordan, OL Tyler McLellan
  • Waived/injured: OL Silas Dzansi
  • Placed on reserve/retired list: OT Garret Greenfield

Washington Commanders

Following rumblings yesterday that Artie Burns may have suffered a season-ending injury, the bad news was confirmed today, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Dolphins cornerback indeed suffered a torn ACL. It’s a tough break for the veteran, who’s looking to revive his NFL career after being limited to only four games with the Seahawks last season. The Dolphins were quick to sign a replacement, as Miami signed Cornell Armstrong. A former sixth-round pick by the Dolphins, Armstrong last appeared in an NFL game in 2022, when he started four of his nine games for the Falcons.

The Buccaneers did some shuffling on their offensive line today. In comes a pair of lineman: Michael Jordan, who started 11 games for the Patriots last season, and Tyler McLellan, a six-foot-eight, 355-pound lineman out of Campbell. Garret Greenfield, a UDFA in the 2024 draft, has apparently decided to hang up his cleats, and the team also moved on from Silas Dzansi with an injury designation.

The Commanders were looking ahead to 2026 today, as the team added an extra year to Percy Butler‘s contract. The former fourth-round pick has had some run in the starting lineup, including a 2023 season where he started 13 games while compiling 64 tackles and eight passes defended. He started five of 17 games in 2024 while establishing himself as one of Washington’s special teams aces.

Latest On Falcons’ LB Situation

July 3rd, 2025 at 2:27pm CST by Adam La Rose

Kaden Elliss is in line to once again operate as a full-time linebacker starter for the Falcons in 2025. It remains to be seen who will occupy the other first-team role at that spot.

Atlanta added Divine Deablo on a two-year, $14MM pact in free agency. The former Raider made 42 starts while playing out his rookie contract, handling a regular defensive role over each of the past three seasons. That could continue during his debut Atlanta campaign.

ESPN’s Marc Raimondi writes head coach Raheem Morris has been impressed with Deablo so far. The 26-year-old is candidate to start alongside Elliss in 2025, with Deablo also a candidate at this point to wear the green dot as the defense’s signal-caller. His best season came in 2023, with 106 tackles, one sack and one fumble recovery. A repeat of that production would certainly help Deablo’s chances of maintaining a full-time starting gig.

In other Falcons linebacker news, the status of Troy Andersen remains unclear at this point. The 26-year-old was limited to just two games in 2023 due to shoulder and pectoral injuries. He once again finished the campaign on injured reserve last season after seven games played. Andersen’s situation has not been specifically updated recently, but Morris said in June the Falcons had a few players they would be “extremely cautious” with.

Will McFadden of the team’s website notes Andersen can be put in that category. The Montana State product is nevertheless expected to be available at some point this season, per McFadden, with Week 1 not out of the question. When healthy, though, Andersen may not be in line for the starting spot he appeared to be on track to handle at the start of the 2023 campaign. As a pending free agent, his showing this year will be critical, and a cautious approach on the recovery front is an understandable one for team and player.

Elliss has been with the Falcons since 2023 after a four-year run with the Saints. He has eclipsed 120 tackles in both of his Falcons campaigns, adding nine sacks over that span. Expectations will remain high for the coming campaign as a result, but it will be interesting to see how the team proceeds with respect to who will join him as a starting linebacker.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/16/24

December 16th, 2024 at 7:15pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Tennessee Titans

Anthony Pittman is back in Detroit after the Lions snagged the linebacker off the Jaguars’ practice squad. Pittman was once a special teams mainstay for the Lions, appearing in every game for the organization between 2021 and 2023. Over that time, he was limited to 134 defensive snaps (vs. 1,099 ST snaps), and he’ll likely see a similar role during his current stint with the squad.

Colton Dowell will return to practice this week after being designated for return from the PUP list. The wideout suffered a torn ACL last December, and coach Brian Callahan told reporters that they wanted to give a look at the player after he worked so hard during rehab (via the team’s website). A 2023 seventh-round pick, Dowell got into 10 games as a rookie.

Latest On Falcons LB Troy Andersen

May 26th, 2024 at 9:27am CST by Rory Parks

After seeing action in all 17 games (five starts) as a rookie in 2022, Falcons linebacker Troy Andersen opened the 2023 season as a full-time starter alongside Kaden Elliss in Atlanta’s defense. Unfortunately, the shoulder and pectoral injuries he sustained in Week 3 sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign, and his replacement — 2022 UDFA Nathan Landman — piled up 110 tackles, three forced fumbles, two sacks, and an interception in his stead.

As D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Andersen has no limitations as he participates in OTAs, with the player himself saying, “yeah, I feel good. Kind of back to normal. Hopefully, better than normal. Yeah, it’s pretty good.”

Landman has been working with Elliss and the first-team defense, while Andersen has been finding his footing with the second-team unit and fifth-round rookie JD Bertrand. But given Andersen’s draft pedigree — he was a second-round draft choice in 2022 — it is fair to assume that he will at least push for a starting role, and Ledbetter actually lists Andersen as a starter ahead of Landman on his depth chart.

The Falcons are transitioning to a 3-4 alignment under new head coach Raheem Morris, so there will be an opportunity for Elliss, Andersen, and Landman to get plenty of burn, and Morris indicated that all three players could be on the field at the same time on some occasions.

“Watching those three guys out there, man, it’s been fun to watch,” Morris said. “You’re talking about some big humans that can move really quickly and do some special things, particularly with the ball and getting in the way and getting in the way of passing lanes. They do so many good things, it’s almost like three different coaches sitting in a room at the same time. It is going to be exciting to get them on the field. Maybe all at the same time, because they have that type of ability that warrants more playtime.”

Elliss is the big-money member of the trio, having signed a three-year, $21.5MM contract with Atlanta last March. He held up his end of the bargain, recording 122 tackles and four sacks while grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 20th-best linebacker in the league out of 82 qualifiers in 2023.

Landman also fared well in the eyes of PFF’s metrics, finishing as the site’s 28th-best LB. PFF dinged him for his work in pass coverage — something many ‘backers struggle with — but he more than made up for it with his performance against the run.

As such, Morris and defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake have a good problem on their hands when it comes to finding reps for all of their linebackers, and the return of Andersen will further bolster a defense that finished 11th in total yardage last season. In his two games in 2023, the Montana State product notched 19 total tackles (including one TFL) and a half-sack.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/3/24

January 3rd, 2024 at 6:49pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

  • Activated from IR: DL Viliami Fehoko
  • Placed on IR: RB Deuce Vaughn

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Troy Andersen is eyeing a return for the regular season finale after having been sidelined since late September with a pectoral injury. The 2022 second-round pick started five of his 17 appearances as a rookie, finishing with 69 tackles. Andersen had 19 tackles in a pair of appearances this season, with the linebacker missing Week 2 while sitting in concussion protocol.

An ankle injury will end Deuce Vaughn‘s rookie season early, with the sixth-round pick finishing with 80 yards from scrimmage on 30 touches. Regular backup RB Rico Dowdle missed last week while dealing with a lingering ankle injury, but Vaughn’s removal from the active roster probably bodes well for Dowdle’s availability. Of course, this move will also lead to even more speculation surrounding a potential Dalvin Cook pursuit.

After starting five of his 23 appearances through his first four seasons in the NFL, Phil Haynes entered the 2023 campaign as Seattle’s starting right guard. He started each of Seattle’s first eight games this season before landing on injured reserve with a toe injury. Anthony Bradford has been starting at the position in Haynes’ place, and he could keep his starting gig with Jason Peters sidelined with a foot injury.

Falcons Place LB Troy Andersen On IR

September 26th, 2023 at 3:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Falcons will be without one of their starting linebackers for a while. Troy Andersen is headed to IR, the team announced. The 2022 second-round pick has run into multiple health issues to start his second season.

After missing Week 2 with a concussion, Andersen returned to action against the Lions. But he has encountered shoulder and pectoral injuries. Indicating Andersen’s injury “didn’t look good,” Arthur Smith said a potential season-ending IR stay could be on tap. An MRI confirmed a severe injury, per the team website. It is not known if Andersen suffered a torn pec, an injury that would sideline him for the rest of the season.

Although teams have eight IR activations to use in-season, Andersen may not factor into this roster math. Andersen went down during the fourth quarter of the Falcons’ Week 3 loss to the Lions. Nate Landman, a 2022 UDFA, stepped in for Andersen.

Arriving as last year’s No. 58 overall pick, the Montana State alum joined a Falcons team with a crowded linebacker group last year. Despite Foye Oluokun‘s defection to Jacksonville, Atlanta still rostered a host of veterans — Deion Jones, Rashaan Evans and Nick Kwiatkoski — along with Mykal Walker. The Falcons overhauled their linebacking corps upon hiring Ryan Nielsen as defensive coordinator. Jones, Evans, Kwiatkoski and Walker are all elsewhere, with ex-Saint Kaden Elliss added to anchor the team’s linebacking corps.

Playing behind the likes of Walker and Evans last season, Andersen did make five starts as a rookie. The Division I-FCS product notched 69 tackles (three for loss) last season, forcing a fumble. He started alongside Elliss to open this season. A Colorado alum, Landman played in 10 games as a rookie. After logging just 22 defensive snaps throughout his first season, Landman has already been on the field for 57 this year. He started in place of Andersen in Week 2 and looks to continue in that capacity moving forward. Sixth-year veteran Tae Davis sits as the other Falcons backup inside ‘backer. The Falcons have Andre Smith and Milo Eifler as their practice squad ILBs.