NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/26/24
Here are Thursday’s practice squad moves:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: WR Ahmarean Brown
Chicago Bears
- Signed: DL Travis Bell
- Placed on practice squad injured list: DL Sam Roberts
Detroit Lions
- Signed: LB Abraham Beauplan
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: TE Messiah Swinson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: TE Jody Fortson, RB Keaontay Ingram
- Placed on practice squad injured list: TE Baylor Cupp
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: OL Braeden Daniels
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: DT Neil Farrell
Fortson will make his way back to Missouri, doing so after the Dolphins released him in August. Fortson combined to catch 14 passes for 155 yards and four touchdowns during the 2021 and ’22 Chiefs seasons, but he spent the 2023 campaign on IR. An effort to latch on in Miami did not pan out, but the Chiefs have the reserve tight end back as insurance. Fortson, 28, initially caught on with the Chiefs as a 2019 UDFA.
Ingram will fill the same purpose, switching spots with Kareem Hunt, whom the Chiefs bumped up to their 53-man roster this week. Waiving Ingram to make room for the Hunt reunion, Kansas City circled back to the former Arizona draftee. Ingram joins UDFA Emani Bailey as RBs on the Chiefs’ P-squad.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/26/24
Here are Thursday’s minor moves:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed from practice squad: OL Will Clapp
- Placed on IR: OL Tylan Grable
Dallas Cowboys
- Elevated: DE Carl Lawson, CB Amani Oruwariye
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed from practice squad: S Tony Jefferson
New York Giants
- Elevated: FB Jakob Johnson, CB Duke Shelley
Without Adoree’ Jackson and Dru Phillips, the Giants will move Shelley up to their gameday roster. Shelley has not played since last season, attending training camp with the Vikings but landing with the Giants shortly after not making Minnesota’s 53-man roster.
Jefferson played in one game this season as a gameday elevation, but this is his first time on a 53-man roster since the 2022 season. Jefferson had retired, spending the 2023 season as a Ravens scouting intern. At 32, he returned to play under Jim Harbaugh. The Chargers will be without Derwin James against the Chiefs due to a one-game suspension, with Jefferson set to serve as a depth piece in Week 4.
Lions Sign Allen Robinson To Active Roster
Allen Robinson made his Lions debut on Sunday, and he is now positioned to remain a regular presence on gamedays. The veteran wideout was signed to the active roster on Thursday, per a team announcement. 
Robinson was released by the Steelers early in the 2024 offseason, marking an end to his one-year tenure in Pittsburgh. The 31-year-old then caught on with the Giants, although he was unable to carve out a role in the team’s receiving room. That left him as one of New York’s final roster cuts and threatened to leave him without a deal in time for Week 1. Robinson quickly caught on with the Lions after being released by New York, though.
That move came shortly after Tim Patrick was added on a practice squad agreement. The former Bronco was signed to the active roster earlier this week, and the Lions have now done the same with Robinson. The latter played all 18 regular and postseason games with Pittsburgh last season, but he posted 280 scoreless yards. That production helped inform Robinson’s release, a move he did not see coming. The former Pro Bowler made it clear he did not consider retirement, however, and he is aiming to rebuild his value in the Motor City.
Detroit has Amon-Ra St. Brown atop the WR depth chart, and 2022 first-rounder Jameson Williams has taken on by far the largest workload of his young career this season. Questions were raised about the team’s depth at the position after Josh Reynolds departed in free agency, although a number options are in place for the WR3 gig. Kalif Raymond, Antoine Green, Tre’Quan Smith and Isaiah Williams are also on the active roster as things stand.
Robinson – who does not play on special teams – will aim to carve out a depth role among that group. The former second-rounder topped 1,100 yards three times across his time with the Bears and Jaguars, but expectations for a repeat of that feat are of course absent regarding his Lions tenure. Robinson played a single snap in Week 3, but that figure could rise in the near future.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/25/24
Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
- Signed to active roster: OT Germain Ifedi
New England Patriots
- Placed on IR: LB Ja’Whaun Bentley (story)
New York Giants
- Signed to active roster: LB Ty Summers
After suffering a pectoral injury in Week 2, Ja’Whaun Bentley officially landed on injured reserve today. With the linebacker expected to be sidelined for the rest of the season, the player willingly gave up his captaincy to safety Kyle Dugger, per Ben Volin of The Boston Globe.
Ty Summers was promoted from the practice squad for each of the Giants’ first three games, so the team had no choice but to sign the linebacker to the active roster. The former seventh-round pick has exclusively played on special teams for the Giants this season, and he hasn’t seen the field for a defensive snap since he was with the Packers in 2021.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/25/24
Today’s practice squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: OL Austen Pleasants
- Placed on IR: OT Jackson Barton
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR Sam Pinckney
Chicago Bears
- Signed: DB Ameer Speed
- Released: DB Ro Torrence
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: OT Sebastian Gutierrez, OT Ricky Lee III, DE Elerson Smith
- Released: LB Luiji Vilain
Detroit Lions
- Signed: LB Abraham Beauplan
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: OT Gottlieb Ayedze
New England Patriots
- Signed: WR John Jiles
New York Giants
- Signed: FB Jakob Johnson
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DT Shakel Brown
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: P Trenton Gill
Trenton Gill has caught on with the Buccaneers practice squad after getting cut by the Broncos back in August. Gill spent the previous two seasons as the Bears full-time punter, with the 25-year-old averaging 46 yards per punt while landing 28.6 percent of his punts inside the 20. As Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times notes, this addition is a sign that Bucs punter Jake Camarda may be on the hot seat. The former fourth-round pick is averaging a career-low 39.8 net yards per punt.
Steelers Add CB C.J. Henderson To Practice Squad
The Steelers have added a former first-round pick to their secondary. The team announced that they’ve signed defensive back C.J. Henderson to the practice squad.
The Jaguars selected Henderson with the ninth-overall pick in the 2020 draft. The Florida product showed flashes of his first-round pedigree as a rookie, finishing with 36 tackles, one interception, and one forced fumble in eight games before landing on injured reserve with a groin injury.
Henderson was dealt to the Panthers during his sophomore campaign and proceeded to spend two-plus seasons in Carolina, starting 22 of his 39 appearances. The cornerback occasionally filled up the stat sheet, including a 2022 campaign where he finished with tw0 interceptions and six passes defended. However, Pro Football Focus was never especially fond of Henderson’s performance, often giving him one of the worst positional grades in pass coverage.
The 25-year-old caught on with the Texans this offseason but didn’t make it through final cuts with his new squad. After remaining unsigned through the first few weeks of the regular season, Henderson has now found a new home in Pittsburgh. The veteran will still face an uphill battle to earn a promotion, as he joins a Steelers practice squad that already includes cornerbacks Anthony Averett, D’Shawn Jamison, and Thomas Graham Jr..
Saints Work Out Brian Allen, Add Chris Reed; Team Signs Shane Lemieux From Practice Squad
Following a 2-0 start featuring a suddenly explosive offense and their veteran-laden defense performing well, the Saints lost in Week 3 and came out of it worse for wear. Plenty of questions now face New Orleans, which was missing several key contributors at practice Wednesday.
Among them, the last two members of the team’s Drew Brees offensive lines. Erik McCoy is heading to IR, and right guard Cesar Ruiz is battling both knee and ankle injuries. Coming into the season with issues up front, New Orleans now has injury hurdles to negotiate early. As a result, reinforcements are coming.
One of them will move up from the practice squad, with another coming from outside the organization. Shane Lemieux is being signed to the 53-man roster from the practice squad, per ESPN.com’s Katherine Terrell, while NewOrleans.football’s Nick Underhill indicates Chris Reed is joining team’s P-squad.
While Reed comes to New Orleans from Minnesota, his Vikings tenure did not overlap with new OC Klint Kubiak‘s. Reed spent the previous two seasons in Minnesota, after Kubiak had moved on, and worked as a Vikings backup. Reed, who worked as a Panthers regular starter in 2020 and a Colts fill-in starter in 2021, will mix in at a reeling position group.
Oli Udoh, who started 16 games at guard for the Vikings during Kubiak’s 2021 season as OC, moved into the lineup once McCoy went down against the Eagles. Udoh kicked Lucas Patrick from left guard to center, and the Saints figure to lean on the versatile blocker’s experience there for the foreseeable future. The Saints have a younger option as well in Nick Saldiveri, a 2023 fourth-round pick. The Old Dominion alum began training camp working as the first-string left guard. Patrick eventually won the job, but both Udoh and Saldiveri could be summoned if Ruiz cannot go in Week 4.
Lemieux, who became a Giants starter as a rookie, battled constant injury trouble during his final three seasons in New York. A severe foot injury sidelined the former fifth-round pick for almost all of the 2021 and ’22 seasons. Lemieux returned in 2022 but played in only one game. A biceps injury in practice last October ended Lemieux’s contract year on a familiar note. This represents another shot for a player who has played in just six games over the past three seasons.
Reed joined Brian Allen and others, ex-Colts backup Josh Sills among them, at Wednesday’s workout. Formerly the Rams’ starting center in Super Bowl LVI who worked as the team’s starter for three seasons during an injury-plagued run in Los Angeles, Allen lost his job to Coleman Shelton last season and became an offseason cap casualty. Previously given a three-year, $18MM Rams deal, Allen could not make the Browns’ 53-man roster in August.
Broncos To Sign LB Zach Cunningham, Move RB Tyler Badie To Active Roster
Although the Broncos prevailed in Tampa and have displayed far superior defensive form compared to the early weeks in Vance Joseph‘s DC tenure, they continue to add veteran linebacker pieces. After signing Kwon Alexander, Denver is bringing in Zach Cunningham.
There are no Saints ties with Cunningham, whom 9News’ Mike Klis notes is joining the Broncos’ practice squad, but he also carries extensive experience as a second-level defensive piece. Cunningham, 29, spent last season with the Eagles after a career in the AFC South (Texans, Titans).
[RELATED: LB Alex Singleton Suffers ACL Tear]
This turned out to be an emergency hire, as the team will be tasked with playing without its top tackler (Singleton) after the $6MM-per-year player suffered a season-ending injury. Cunningham and Alexander, 30, will be vying for time — potentially soon — for a Broncos team that lost Josey Jewell in free agency. As a result, depth is thin for this group. Cody Barton is the only proven ILB left on Denver’s active roster; that may change soon.
A full-time starter for the Texans, Cunningham signed a lucrative extension in 2019. He fell out of favor during the Texans’ early-2020s dark ages, despite leading the NFL in tackles in 2020 (with 164), becoming a healthy scratch during David Culley‘s season in charge. The Titans claimed Cunningham and turned to him as a starter during a season that ended with Tennessee securing the AFC’s No. 1 seed. The former second-round pick battled injuries in Tennessee, starting four games to close out the 2021 season but going on IR twice in 2022. As GM Ran Carthon took over in 2023, he made Cunningham one of his many cap-casualty moves.
Last season, the Eagles used Cunningham as a 10-game starter after signing him midway through training camp. He played in 13 contests and logged every defensive snap in the team’s wild-card game, one that punctuated a season that featured a collapse. Despite the Eagles cratering, Pro Football Focus viewed Cunningham as an above-average player and graded him well in coverage. The Eagles did not bring back Cunningham, and the eight-year vet — he of 85 tackles and four pass breakups in 2023 — did not attend a training camp. As such, it would not surprise to see the Broncos hold off on an immediate promotion.
Denver is also making an interesting move at running back. After Tyler Badie showed some promise to help a struggling rushing attack against the Buccaneers, the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson adds the team is signing the young RB to its 53-man roster. Badie joins Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and rookie UDFA Blake Watson on Denver’s active roster.
A Missouri alum the Ravens chose in the 2022 sixth round, Badie has been with the Broncos since late in the at ’22 season. He did not play last season, being stationed behind Williams, McLaughlin and Samaje Perine, but delivered his best NFL work last week. Badie, who followed Montee Ball in informing the masses of a pronunciation change as he transitioned to a Broncos RB role, gained 70 yards on nine carries and helped the Broncos close out the Buccaneers. With Williams struggling, Badie now looms as a direct threat to the contract-year starter’s playing time.
Cardinals’ Justin Jones Out For Season
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon announced defensive linemen Justin Jones will miss the rest of the 2024 season with a torn triceps suffered against the Lions in Week 3.
With Jones going on IR, the Cardinals will sign Naquan Jones from the Dolphins’ practice squad after he appeared in four games for Arizona last season.
Justin Jones signed with the Cardinals this offseason on a three-year, $30.2MM contract after recording a career-high 4.5 sacks in Chicago last year. He was originally a third-round pick by the Chargers in 2018 and earned a starting role in his second year, but struggled to stay healthy with just 36 appearances from 2019 to 2021. Jones then signed a two-year deal with Chicago, where he started every game for two straight seasons.
The Cardinals’ reunion with Naquan Jones will help limit the damage from Justin Jones’ absence. He was signed to Arizona’s practice squad last November before a promotion to the active roster the following month. He started one game out of his four appearances, with a total of 78 snaps played for the Cardinals in 2024, so his familiarity with Gannon’s scheme will allow him to easily join teammates Roy Lopez, Bilal Nichols, L.J. Collier, Khyiris Tonga, and Dante Stills on the defensive interior.
Justin Jones joins Jonah Williams, BJ Ojulari, and rookies Darius Robinson and Christian Jones on the list of key Cardinals to land on injured reserve early in the season, though not all are expected to be out for the year. Robinson, the second of the team’s two first-round picks, is eligible to be activated from IR next week.
Broncos To Add LB Kwon Alexander
Familiarity with Sean Payton continues to land certain players gigs in Denver, as a handful of ex-Saints assistants are also on the second-year HC’s staff. Add Kwon Alexander to the Saints-to-Broncos pipeline.
The veteran linebacker worked out for the team, per 9News’ Mike Klis, and ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter notes the club is making a practice squad addition. Alexander will join the Broncos at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, where they are practicing in preparation for their Week 4 game against the Jets.
Coming back from the second Achilles tear of his NFL career, Alexander had previously auditioned for the Falcons and Vikings. The Broncos saw enough to greenlight this reunion. Alexander will join a Broncos team that already houses seven ex-Saints — Adam Trautman, Wil Lutz, Malcolm Roach, Calvin Throckmorton, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Lucas Krull and Jordan Jackson — on its active roster.
Alexander spent 2022 with the Jets and 2023 with the Steelers but was dealt from the 49ers to the Saints in 2020 and played all of the 2021 season — Payton’s New Orleans finale — with the NFC South team. Alexander, 30, started 15 games with the Saints under Payton. He aided a division champion in 2020 and recorded 3.5 sacks, despite operating primarily as an off-ball LB, in 2021
While the Broncos’ ILBs coach (Greg Manusky) was not in New Orleans during that time, ex-ILB Michael Wilhoite — Denver’s OLBs coach — was on Payton’s staff during Alexander’s tenure. Alexander also recovered a fumble against the Broncos during a 2020 matchup best remembered for the AFC West team having no active QBs due to COVID-19.
Formerly a standout Buccaneers ‘backer who earned a lucrative 49ers free agency deal in 2019 despite coming off an ACL tear, Alexander saw his first Saints season end due to an Achilles tear and sustained the same injury — albeit to his other Achilles — in November of last year. The Saints still re-signed the talented defender in August 2021. Alexander has played effectively in spurts. He started 12 games for a top-five Jets defense in 2022. Last season, Pro Football Focus graded the nine-year vet as a plus coverage ILB. Though, the Broncos will surely want to see how he looks in practices given the extensive injury history here.
Denver signed Cody Barton to start alongside Alex Singleton this offseason, letting Josey Jewell defect to the Panthers. Jonas Griffith had competed with Barton for that gig but did not make the team, suffering another major injury. Justin Strnad and Kristian Welch are in place as Denver’s second-string ILBs. Alexander will surely have a chance to move up to the 53-man roster soon.