- Former Simmons secondary mate Chris Harris will return to action soon. The Chargers designated the All-Decade cornerback to return from IR on Wednesday. The team has three weeks to activate him. Harris, who signed a two-year deal worth $17.5MM in March, has been out since Week 2 because of a foot injury.
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: LBs Terrance Smith, Stephone Anthony
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: QB Tommy Stevens
Denver Broncos
- Signed: TE Jordan Leggett
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: WR John Hurst, RB Derrick Gore
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: LS Rex Sunahara
New England Patriots
- Signed: QB Jake Dolegala
- Released: TE David Wells
New York Giants
- Signed: CB Quincy Wilson, OL Kenny Wiggins, RB Taquan Mizzell
Washington Football Team
- Signed: DE Jalen Jelks
The Panthers were going to land Stevens as an UDFA back in April before the Saints snagged him in the seventh-round. He was recently cut from New Orleans’ practice squad last week. Stevens is a diverse athlete who played a Taysom Hill-esque role at Penn State before transferring to Mississippi State for the 2019 college season. His signing could be an indication the Panthers are worried about Teddy Bridgewater‘s status for Sunday, but since they had previous reported interest in Stevens it could be completely unrelated.
Here are Saturday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Activated from IR: G J.R. Sweezy
- Promoted: DL Trevon Coley, RB D.J. Foster, CB Jace Whittaker
- Placed on IR: DL Leki Fotu
Atlanta Falcons
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DE Dante Fowler
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted: S Geno Stone
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from IR: S Juston Burris
- Promoted: RB Rodney Smith
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: T Quinn Bailey, TE Troy Fumagalli, LB Josh Watson
Detroit Lions
- Promoted: DT Frank Herron, T Dan Skipper
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Activated from IR: S Andrew Wingard
- Promoted: S Doug Middleton, LB Joe Giles-Harris, WR Terry Godwin, OL K.C. McDermott
- Waived: DL Caraun Reid
- Placed on IR: S Josh Jones
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: CB Quenton Meeks
Los Angeles Rams
- Activated from IR: S Jordan Fuller, OL Joseph Noteboom
Minnesota Vikings
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LS Austin Cutting
New England Patriots
- Activated from IR: OL Jermaine Eluemunor
- Promoted: LB Terez Hall, LB Cassh Maluia
- Waived: DL Nick Thurman
- Placed on IR: LB Shilique Calhoun
Philadelphia Eagles
- Promoted: CB Michael Jacquet, DT T.Y. McGill, TE Caleb Wilson
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: S Antoine Brooks
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: OL Kevin Dotson
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: TE Daniel Helm, S Jared Mayden
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Cyril Grayson, WR Jaydon Mickens
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: LB Jordan Kunaszyk
Justin Jackson will join Austin Ekeler on the Chargers’ injured reserve list. The Bolts placed Jackson on IR Saturday and promoted Kalen Ballage from their practice squad.
A knee injury will sideline Jackson and continue to change the Chargers’ backfield plans. Ballage played extensively last week after Jackson went down early. He, Joshua Kelley and Troymaine Pope will be Los Angeles’ running backs in Miami.
Ekeler remains on the Bolts’ IR because of a severe hamstring injury. No rumors have surfaced indicating his return is near. A 2018 seventh-round pick out of Northwestern, Jackson stepped in to replace Ekeler alongside Kelley and has averaged 4.1 yards per carry in his third NFL season.
Ballage gained 69 yards on 15 carries last week, doing so after Jackson went down and while Pope was out due to a concussion. Pope practiced fully throughout this week. The Bolts signed Ballage after the Jets waived him earlier this year. This will mark a return trip to Miami for Ballage, a Dolphins fourth-round pick in 2018. Ballage largely struggled with Miami, and the team ended up cutting him after an attempt to trade him failed this summer.
The trade deadline is in the rear view mirror, but teams are still keeping a watchful eye on their salary cap figures. For contenders, the available dollars can be used for late-season signings. For all clubs, a portion of the unspent dollars can be rolled over into future seasons, giving them a larger budget to work with in the first wave of free agency.
Here are the most recent figures for each team, via Over The Cap:
- Cleveland Browns – $31MM
- New York Jets – $30.4MM
- Dallas Cowboys — $28MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars– $26.3MM
- Philadelphia Eagles– $23.9MM
- Washington Football Team – $23.3MM
- New England Patriots – $21.8MM
- Denver Broncos – $19.8MM
- Miami Dolphins – $15.6MM
- Detroit Lions – $14.2MM
- Cincinnati Bengals– $12.3MM
- Indianapolis Colts – $10.7MM
- Los Angeles Chargers — $8.4MM
- New York Giants – $8MM
- Chicago Bears – $7.6MM
- Houston Texans – $7.5MM
- Los Angeles Rams – $6.9MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers – $6.9MM
- Green Bay Packers – $6.7MM
- Arizona Cardinals– $6.2MM
- New Orleans Saints – $6MM
- Las Vegas Raiders – $6MM
- Kansas City Chiefs – $5.7MM
- Carolina Panthers – $5.5MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $5.3MM
- Tennessee Titans – $4.6MM
- Minnesota Vikings – $3.8K
- San Francisco 49ers – $3.7MM
- Seattle Seahawks – $3.3MM
- Baltimore Ravens – $3.3MM
- Buffalo Bills – $3MM
- Atlanta Falcons – $1.8MM
Here are Saturday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Activated from IR: TE Maxx Williams
- Promoted: DL Michael Dogbe, RB D.J. Foster, CB Jace Whittaker
- Waived: TE Jordan Thomas
Atlanta Falcons
- Activated from IR: CB Darqueze Dennard
- Promoted: LB Edmond Robinson, LB Pita Taumoepenu
- Placed on IR: CB Jordan Miller
Buffalo Bills
- Activated from IR: LB Del’Shawn Phillips
- Promoted: CB Dane Jackson, WR Jake Kumerow
Carolina Panthers
- Activated: DE Yetur Gross-Matos, RB Christian McCaffrey (story)
Chicago Bears
- Promoted: QB Tyler Bray, OL Dieter Eiselen, WR Dwayne Harris, DL Daniel McCullers, Badara Traore
Dallas Cowboys
- Placed on IR: P Chris Jones
- Promoted: P Hunter Niswander, RB Sewo Olonilua, QB Cooper Rush, CB Saivion Smith
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: S Alijah Holder
Detroit Lions
- Activated from reserve/PUP list: DE Austin Bryant
- Promoted: OL Marcus Martin
- Placed on IR: CB Darryl Roberts
Houston Texans
- Promoted: LB Nate Hall, DL Corey Liuget, OL Greg Mancz
Indianapolis Colts
- Activated from IR: LB Matthew Adams
- Promoted: WR Daurice Fountain, WR DeMichael Harris
- Placed on IR: WR Ashton Dulin
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Promoted: LB Joe Giles-Harris, S Doug Middleton, CB Josh Nurse
- Placed on IR: LB Shaquille Quarterman
Kansas City Chiefs
- Promoted: WR Gehrig Dieter, G Bryan Witzmann
Las Vegas Raiders
- Activated from IR: DT Daniel Ross
- Added to active roster: DE Chris Smith
- Waived: WR Rico Gafford
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: RB Kalen Ballage, DE Jessie Lemonier, DB Quenton Meeks
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Brandon Facyson
Miami Dolphins
- Activated from IR: T Austin Jackson
- Promoted: WR Kirk Merritt
Minnesota Vikings
- Promoted: DT Abdullah Anderson, C Brett Jones
New York Giants
- Activated from IR: CB Brandon Williams
- Promoted: DB Montre Hartage, RB Alfred Morris, G Chad Slade
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: S Antoine Brooks, LB Jayrone Elliott
- Waived: RB Trey Edmunds, OL Stefen Wisniewski
Seattle Seahawks
- Activated from IR: DE Rasheem Green
- Promoted: RB Alex Collins, CB Jayson Stanley
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: DL William Gholston
Tennessee Titans
- Promoted: WR Cameron Batson, CB Breon Borders, RB D’Onta Foreman, LS Matt Overton, LB Wyatt Ray, DL Teair Tart
- Placed on IR: CB Tye Smith
- Waived: OL Daniel Munyer
Washington Football Team
- Activated from IR: WR Steven Sims
- Promoted: WR Jeff Badet, OL Ross Pierschbacher
- Waived: DE Nate Orchard
Today’s minor transactions from around the NFL:
Arizona Cardinals
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Devon Kennard, CB Byron Murphy
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Rasul Douglas
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: RB Troymaine Pope, C/G Cole Toner
New Orleans Saints
- Waived: WR Tommylee Lewis
Tennessee Titans
- Waived: DT Isaiah Mack
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: S Darron Lee
- Released: LB Ahmad Gooden
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR Shelton Gibson
- Released: K Taylor Bertolet
Detroit Lions
- Signed: RB Dalyn Dawkins
- Released: DT Albert Huggins
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: C Evan Boehm
- Suspended: FB Bruce Miller (six games, PED violation)
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: TE Matt Sokol
Miami Dolphins
- Released: CB Cordrea Tankersley
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: TE Hakeem Butler, LB Rashad Smith
- Released: WR Marcus Green, LB Dante Olson
Washington Football Team
- Signed: CB Jordan Brown
The Chargers have agreed to send Desmond King to the Titans, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Los Angeles is getting a sixth-round pick back in exchange for the cornerback/return specialist. 
King, 26 in December, was a healthy scratch for Sunday’s game against the Broncos. Now, we know that the Bolts were safeguarding against injury in order to trade him before the deadline. There was speculation that the Cardinals would trade for him, giving them a potential Patrick Peterson replacement for 2021. Instead, the Titans have emerged with the former All-Pro returner.
A fifth-round pick in 2017, King broke out in 2018 with 62 tackles, three interceptions, a defensive TD, and ten passes defensed. So far this year, he hasn’t made the same kind of impact. At 2-5, the Chargers have opted to move on from him and recoup some value for ’21 and beyond.
Los Angeles has a ton of talent in their secondary, which made King more expendable. The Iowa product grew unhappy with his decreased role, and was vocal about it on social media.
It’s a nice low-risk move for the Titans as well, as they desperately needed help in their secondary. Young cornerbacks Adoree’ Jackson and Kristian Fulton are both hurt and unavailable at the moment, and Mike Vrabel’s defense has been getting torched.
They’re currently giving up the sixth-most passing yards per game, although that’s not all on the secondary as they’ve been unable to get much of a pass-rush going either. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if the Titans made another move on defense before tomorrow’s deadline, either for an edge rusher or another cornerback.
The Chargers are shopping former All-Pro defensive back and punt returner Desmond King, according to sources who spoke with ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Multiple teams have inquired on King, setting the stage for a possible trade between now and the Tuesday afternoon deadline.
King, 26 in December, was a healthy scratch for Sunday’s game against the Broncos, fueling speculation that he could be on the move. The former fifth-round pick earned First-Team All-Pro honors in 2018 after notching 62 stops, three interceptions (including one pick-six), and ten passes defensed. This year, he hasn’t made the same kind of impact for the Chargers’ secondary, despite the opportunity created by injuries to Derwin James and others.
King would represent an intriguing and affordable pickup for contenders. Some have speculated that the Cardinals could make a move for him, giving them another key piece in the secondary for this year and a quality cornerback beyond 2020. Arizona may part ways with Patrick Peterson after this season, so King would give them a quality safety net who could also contribute on special teams.
After Sunday’s 31-30 loss to the Broncos, the Chargers find themselves in the AFC West cellar at 2-5.