Today’s minor NFL transactions:
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
J.C. Jackson will make his Chargers debut tonight. James Palmer of NFL Network reports (on Twitter) that the cornerback will play tonight against the Chiefs.
Jackson was considered a game-time decision coming into Thursday. The offseason acquisition missed Week 1 while recovering from late-August ankle surgery. Palmer notes that the cornerback looked good during practice this week, and he’ll give it a go tonight against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
The 26-year-old joined Los Angeles this offseason on a five-year, $82.5MM contract. He’s expected to slide in opposite former second-round pick Asante Samuel Jr. at cornerback. Michael Davis, who got into 100 percent of the Chargers’ defensive snaps in Week 1, will likely see a backup role with Jackson in the lineup.
Jackson spent the first four seasons of his career in New England, evolving from an undrafted rookie into a second-team All-Pro. The cornerback has 25 career interceptions in 62 career games, including 17 picks over the past two years. He also led the league with 23 passes defended in 2021.
Elsewhere on the injury front for Thursday Night Football, Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith will play tonight, according to Palmer (via Twitter). The lineman suffered an ankle injury during Kansas City’s Week 1 victory, leading to a questionable designation heading into tonight’s game. After being a limited participant in practice on Tuesday, he was a full participant on Wednesday.
J.K. Dobbins returned to practice today, with the running back hoping to make his long-awaited return to the field this Sunday. The Ravens running back admitted that his injury “wasn’t just a normal ACL,” with Dobbins explaining that he tore his ACL, LCL, hamstring, and meniscus at the end of the 2021 preseason (per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley on Twitter). It’s been just over a year since Dobbins suffered his injury.
“It would mean the world to me if I can go out there this Sunday and play well in front of a full house,” Dobbins said (via Hensley).
Fellow running back Gus Edwards also missed the entire 2021 season with a torn ACL, but thanks to his placement on PUP, he’ll have to sit out the first four games of the season. Still, Edwards took to Instagram to tell fans that he continues to progress in his recovery and eventual return to the field.
“For everybody wondering about my recovery I’m doing great and I’m very close,” Edwards wrote.
More injury notes from around the AFC…
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns
Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
New England Patriots
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Hand suffered a torn quad in the Titans’ opener, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). He is undergoing surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season. A former fourth-round Lions draftee back in 2018, Hand has been with the Titans since last year. He played two defensive snaps Sunday.
Montgomery had battled a knee injury during the run-up to the regular season, but the veteran passing-down back played in the Patriots’ Week 1 contest. Montgomery caught three passes for 15 yards in New England’s loss. The Pats signed Humphrey, a former Saints wideout, midway through the offseason.
Here are Tuesday’s practice squad additions and subtractions:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Chicago Bears
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Commanders
Here are Monday’s minor moves:
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Los Angeles Chargers
Seattle Seahawks
Tennessee Titans
Washington Commanders
Robinson has been mostly a rotational defensive end with the Seahawks, but the Syracuse product has five sacks in his two seasons. Robinson suffered a knee injury in Seattle’s preseason finale. He can return after four games, though teams only have eight IR-return slots — way up from the pre-COVID NFL but down from the 2020 and ’21 unlimited IR-return setup — this season.
The Seahawks will be without their primary long snapper, Tyler Ott, on Monday night. Ott is out with a shoulder injury. Tinker has been an NFL snapper since 2013, and the veteran specialist has experience with Seahawks kicker Jason Myers. The duo played together in Jacksonville during the mid-2010s.
9:50pm: In a postgame interview, Allen claimed he “possibly” can play in Week 2 after today’s hamstring injury, according to Lindsey Thiry of ESPN. When reminded that the Chargers have a short week before their Thursday night matchup in Kansas City, Allen amended his “possibly” to a “small possibly.”
6:54pm: Los Angeles was rolling on offense before veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen left the game in the first half with an apparent hamstring injury. Allen pulled up in the middle of running a route, grabbed him hamstring, and limped directly off the field and to the blue medical tent. After initially being announced as questionable to return, he was quickly downgraded to “out,” according to Bridget Condon of NFL Network. 
Allen was a huge part of the Chargers’ early success on Sunday, reeling in four catches for 66 yards in less than two quarters of football. Without Allen in the second half, Los Angeles’ offense grew stagnant, allowing the Raiders to claw their way back into the game.
In Allen’s absence, quarterback Justin Herbert had to really spread out his targets. Newly re-signed Mike Williams is the obvious answer to step up with Allen out, but the Las Vegas defense mobbed Williams for much of the remainder of the game, forcing Herbert to find other targets to pass to. The running backs and tight ends got heavily involved in the passing game with Gerald Everett, Tre’ McKitty, Austin Ekeler, Joshua Kelley, and Zander Horvath reeling in 14 receptions between the five of them.
Allen has been with the Chargers for nine years dating back to their time in San Diego. Even with Williams hot on his heels, Allen has been the leading receiver for the Chargers in every healthy season of his career, except for last season when Williams outgained Allen by eight yards. It’s unknown how much time Allen is expected to miss, but, in the meantime, the Chargers will count on wideouts DeAndre Carter, Joshua Palmer, and Jalen Guyton to open up the field for Williams.
This season will feature 12 new Week 1 starting quarterbacks, though the Jets’ decision is the result of an injury rather than a roster move. High-profile wide receivers also changed teams, igniting one of the biggest market shifts a single position has seen. The Offseason In Review series is now complete. Here are the PFR staff’s looks at how the 32 NFL teams assembled their 2022 rosters.
Today’s minor moves around the league, as teams prepare for the first Sunday slate of regular season games:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
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
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
The Cardinals’ moves come as a reaction to yesterday’s injury news. Baccellia’s roster spot was opened up in the short-term by the injury to Rondale Moore, but he won’t simply be a stop-gap. Arizona signed the 25-year-old to a two-year deal to remain on the main roster, per Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network (Twitter link). A UDFA out of Washington, Baccellia has yet to make a regular season NFL appearance.
Likewise, the fact that Ford will miss at least the first four weeks of the season makes the re-acquisition of Garcia a logical one. The former fourth-rounder has plenty of guard experience, including his three seasons spent in Arizona. It was only in 2021 that he logged any starts, but he could provide veteran depth behind Justin Pugh at least until Ford is able to return.
Addison, 35, was one of several veteran signings the Texans made this offseason to add depth to their front seven. He had a productive season with the Bills last season, notching seven sacks despite not starting any games. In his absence, Harris and Pierre-Louis will provide depth in the edge rush department on Sunday, and likely the short-term future as well.
Quick reminder that standard game day practice squad promotions are a recent development from the new CBA and COVID-19 seasons. Essentially, each team is able to promote two players from the practice squad to the active roster for game days. The players will automatically revert back to the practice squad after the game, not needing to clear waivers before rejoining the developmental roster. A player can only be promoted three times per season. If a team would like to promote a player for a fourth game, they’ll need to go through the normal method of creating space on the 53-man roster to promote them and have them clear waivers before placing them back on the practice squad. That is the difference between “Signed to 53-man roster” from the practice squad and “Promoted from practice squad.”
The Chargers made a number of headline-grabbing defensive additions this offseason, including a big-money signing for cornerback J.C. Jackson. It appears unlikely that his Los Angeles debut will take place this Sunday, however.
Jackson had surgery performed on his ankle last month, a somewhat surprising procedure given the lack of injury concerns dating back to his Patriots tenure. As a result, Jackson’s Week 1 availability was placed in doubt despite the team’s insistence that it was not made necessary by an ailment.
When speaking to the media recently, general manager Tom Telesco confirmed via The Athletic’s Daniel Popper (subscription required) that the vaguely-defined ankle issue sprung up during training camp and was unrelated to his four years in New England.
“He never had any problems with it before” Telesco added, when asked about Jackson’s physical taken around the time of his free agent signing. “You don’t X-ray and MRI every single joint, but you do for the ones that have had issues earlier.” Regarding the decision to have the surgery done, he said, “We didn’t wait; it just started bothering [Jackson]. Just decided it was bothering him too much.”
The terms of his contract – five years, $82.5MM with $40MM guaranteed – made Jackson one of the top defensive players to change teams in March, and a key part of the Chargers’ heavy investments on that side of the ball. The league’s top ballhawk since his career began in 2018, the 26-year-old racked up 25 interceptions and 53 pass breakups with the Patriots.
The start to his Chargers tenure will probably need to wait at least one more week due to the recovery timeline of the surgery, though. As NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirms (via Twitter), Jackson should be available “soon,” but Week 1 would be an unrealistic target. In his absence, Los Angeles will likely turn to a starting trio of Michael Davis along with Asante Samuel Jr. and Bryce Callahan against the Raiders.