Only one team signing futures deals today:
New York Giants
- DT Vernon Butler, RB Jashaun Corbin, T Korey Cunningham, CB Zyon Gilbert, T Devery Hamilton, WR Jaydon Mickens, WR Andre Miller, WR Kalil Pimpleton, WR Makai Polk, S Trenton Thompson
Only one team signing futures deals today:
New York Giants
Today’s practice squad transactions:
Baltimore Ravens
New York Giants
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Taxi squad moves heading into the last weekend of the regular season:
Kansas City Chiefs
New York Giants
San Francisco 49ers
The Giants are in the midst of a bit of a midseason slump during a crucial four-game stretch of division games. They are activating pass rusher Azeez Ojulari and safety Tony Jefferson from injured reserve in hopes that they’ll be able to turn things around after losing three of their last four, according to Giants senior writer Michael Elsen.
New York will certainly be glad to see Ojulari return to the field to assist with an aspect of the game they’ve struggled with so far this season: sack production. Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has been able to produce some form of pass rush, much like he did during his time with the Ravens, by getting creative and sending blitzers from every part of the field. While this has resulted in 12 different players contributing to the team’s sack total, the Giants haven’t gotten consistent results out of any one player, besides defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. Lawrence leads the team with five sacks and is the only one of those 12 players with more than two.
Ojulari not only will get to the quarterback, as he showed he could during his rookie season when he led the team with eight sacks, but his presence should help the other defensive lineman provide more of a natural pass rush. With offensive linemen focused on Ojulari, Lawrence, Leonard Williams, and this year’s No. 5 overall pick, Kayvon Thibodeaux, should be freed up with some one-on-one matchups.
Jefferson is a depth piece in the Giants secondary. After two standard gameday elevations, Jefferson was signed to the team’s active roster for their London game against the Packers. Jefferson unfortunately suffered a foot injury in the game and was promptly placed on IR. With starting safety Xavier McKinney ruled out for the fourth-straight game, Jefferson provides a solid option alongside Dane Belton to start opposite the team’s other starting safety, Julian Love.
New York also made an exchange at the tight end position in today’s transactions. The Giants signed veteran tight end Nick Vannett to the active roster from the practice squad, waiving tight end Tanner Hudson to make room. With fourth-round rookie, and expected starter, Daniel Bellinger missing the last four games with an eye injury, the Giants have recently turned to recent addition Lawrence Cager who converted from wide receiver this past offseason. The team is expecting to finally get Bellinger back but will have Cager and Vannett available for backup.
Lastly, New York has promoted defensive tackle Vernon Butler and defensive back Zyon Gilbert as standard gameday elevations from the practice squad for tomorrow’s matchup with the Commanders. If Gilbert enters the game for Big Blue tomorrow, it would be the NFL debut for the undrafted rookie out of Florida Atlantic.
Today’s practice squad transactions:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Los Angeles Rams
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tennessee Titans
Despite adding star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins back to the active roster and acquiring former Panthers wide out Robbie Anderson for a pair of draft picks, the Cardinals worked out another receiver yesterday in John Ross, according to Field Yates of ESPN. While many viewed Anderson as a replacement for the lost production of draft day acquisition Marquise Brown, who faces a potential multi-week absence, the speedy Ross would be a better match, in terms of skill set, to team up with diminutive wide outs Rondale Moore and Greg Dortch to replace Brown’s ability.
A former top ten draft pick for the Bengals in 2017, Ross is widely considered not to have lived up to his draft stock. After missing the majority of his rookie season with knee and shoulder issues, Ross was still able to salvage some bright spots in his second and third seasons, reaching career highs for touchdowns with seven in 2018 and receiving yards with 506 in 2019. Despite showing some promise, injuries continued to drag the young wide out down. Over the final two years of his contract, Ross missed 21 games, leading him towards free agency. He signed with the Giants last year and appeared in 10 games, catching 11 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown.
Here are a couple of other workouts reported around the league, starting with Brown’s former home in Baltimore:
NFL teams continue to try and piece together their ideal rosters as the regular season approaches. Tight end Dalton Keene is putting out feelers lately, taking visits to San Francisco and Pittsburgh this week, according to two tweets from ESPN’s Field Yates.
Keene faces long odds of getting a job with the 49ers, who currently hold four tight ends on a roster that includes George Kittle, Tyler Kroft, Charlie Woerner, and Ross Dwelley. All three backups behind Kittle had more play and production last year than Keene has had throughout his young career.
Pittsburgh has three tight ends on their roster with Pat Freiermuth, Zach Gentry, and sixth-round rookie Connor Heyward (brother of Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward). The Steelers’ tight end group is a bit less experienced or proven than San Francisco’s, so Keene has a better chance of getting an opportunity in Pittsburgh, but no deals have been announced in the meantime.
Here are a few other notable workouts from around the NFC, starting with a former All-Pro who hasn’t played since 2020:
The Raiders released a pair of veterans today. According to ESPN’s Field Yates (on Twitter), the Raiders cut defensive tackle Vernon Butler and wide receiver Demarcus Robinson.
After coming off the bench for the first 38 games of his career, it looked like Butler may have been evolving into a starter after collecting six sacks in nine starts for the Panthers in 2019. That performance earned the former first-round pick a two-year contract from the Bills, but he never saw more than a situational role during his time in Buffalo, collecting 29 tackles and zero sacks in 24 games.
Butler was one of six defensive tackles/nose tackles to join the Raiders this offseason (including draft picks). It sounds like the 28-year-old didn’t show enough to beat out the likes of Johnathan Hankins, Andrew Billings, Bilal Nichols, and Kyle Peko.
Robinson also joined the Raiders this offseason after having spent the first six seasons of his career with the Chiefs. The wideout hauled in 14 touchdowns between 2018 and 2021, and he had two seasons where he topped 400 receiving yards. Most recently, Robinson caught 25 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns before adding another four receptions in the postseason.
In Las Vegas, the 27-year-old was expected to compete for the WR3 spot behind Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow, but it sounds like the Raiders are comfortable rolling with either Mack Hollins or Keelan Cole in that role.
Today’s minor NFL transactions, including a handful of notable names landing on the physically unable to perform list and the non-football injury list as teams open up camp:
Arizona Cardinals
Chicago Bears
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Miami Dolphins
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Commanders
Today’s minor transactions:
Baltimore Ravens
Green Bay Packers
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
New York Jets