Many teams have started signing players to reserve/futures contracts, allowing the organization to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players through the offseason. Here are the latest reserve/futures contracts:
Dallas Cowboys
Kansas City Chiefs
Today’s practice squad moves:
Minnesota Vikings
Philadelphia Eagles
Today’s minor moves:
Detroit Lions
Los Angeles Chargers
Minnesota Vikings
Pittsburgh Steelers
In recent months, the 49ers have made adjustments to the contracts for both wide receiver Deebo Samuel and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. Both contracts have notable potential outs following the 2024 NFL season, and it appears that San Francisco intends to act on one of those outs. According to general manager John Lynch, the 49ers plan to retain Samuel for the final year of his contract but will release Hargrave with a post-June 1 designation once the new league year starts in March. 
Samuel’s recent contract reconstruction resulted in a situation in which he would account for $31.55MM of dead money should he be cut or traded before June 1. A post-June 1 designation would reduce that dead money hit to $10.75MM and result in cap savings in 2025 of $5.21MM. If the team had not utilized the post-June 1 designation on Hargrave, his release would’ve resulted in $24.86MM of dead money, but with the designation, that number dips down to $7.38MM, resulting in $2.85MM of cap savings.
Samuel, who is turning 29 in a week, just concluded a disappointing, injury-plagued season. It continued a trend of what seems to be alternating years of health and production versus years of injuries and a lack of top-end production. Following the conclusion of his 2024 campaign, Samuel claimed he had “no questions at all” about his future in San Francisco.
Hargrave, 31, just finished an injury-plagued season himself, the first such season of his nine-year career. Following two Pro Bowl campaigns in the last three years, Hargrave only made an appearance in three games in 2024. Hargrave’s recent restructuring facilitated a smooth effecting of the potential out, knowing the strain his $47.86MM cap hit was set to put on the organization in 2026.
Lynch and the Niners made it sound as if they hope to potentially compete in Hargrave’s free agency, but Wagoner claims the reunion is an unlikely one unless Hargrave agrees to a significantly reduced contract. Look for the veteran defender to shop his talents around a bit before potentially committing to return with a pay cut.
Today’s minor transactions:
Los Angeles Chargers
Philadelphia Eagles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Commanders
A former first-round pick, Cine will get a third chance in Philadelphia. The Georgia-product has failed to gain much traction at his first two stops with the Vikings and Bills, but he’ll open the postseason on the active roster with the Eagles.
Once a ball-hawking cornerback for the Rams, Hill’s role has reduced quite a bit in his age-33 season. With the playoffs coming up, though, Hill has the potential to provide some experienced depth in the Buccaneers secondary.
Wednesday’s reserve/futures deals around the NFL:
Indianapolis Colts:
Washington Commanders
Wednesday’s practice squad moves around the league:
Buffalo Bills
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Commanders
Gotsis will provide veteran D-line depth for the Bucs in advance of the playoffs. The 32-year-old has 126 games and 54 starts to his name, including five appearances with the Colts earlier this year. It will be interesting to see if Gotsis makes his way onto Tampa Bay’s roster in time for the team’s wild-card round either through promotion or as a gameday elevation.
It does not look like a Ryan Ramczyk comeback will commence for the Saints. A serious knee injury remains likely to end the former All-Pro tackle’s career, and some paperwork emerging Wednesday all but confirms it.
The Saints and Ramczyk agreed to a restructure that will save the team more than $16MM in cap space, OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald reports. Ramczyk has agreed to trim his $18MM 2025 base salary down to the $1.26MM veteran minimum (for his service-time number).
This transaction will paves the way for the Saints to designate Ramczyk a post-June 1 cut, Fitzgerald adds. Before this reworking, the Saints would have needed to carry a $29MM cap number on their books until the funds emerged June 2. Sitting well south of every other team in terms of cap space, per usual, the Saints need to make several moves to reach compliance by the start of the 2025 league year. Even with this transaction, New Orleans sits more than $50MM over the NFL’s projected 2025 salary cap.
The post-June 1 cut will allow the Saints to split Ramczyk’s $23.1MM in dead money across two years. New Orleans used its two post-June 1 cut designations in 2024 (on Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas); Ramczyk being one of the team’s two allotted slots this year seems a good bet. Ramczyk had been tied to the five-year, $96MM deal he signed during Sean Payton‘s final offseason in charge (2021).
Although Saints winter restructures are commonplace, this one means more due to what it probably entails for Ramczyk. Part of a 2017 draft class that changed the franchise’s trajectory, Ramczyk arrived in the first round and became an instant starter. This helped Drew Brees remain on the NFL’s top tier at his position into his late 30s. Ramczyk, 30, made three All-Pro squads, including the 2019 first team, and started seven seasons for the Saints.
Late in the 2023 season, Ramczyk was believed to be at a career crossroads due to a troublesome knee injury. The Wisconsin alum ended that season on IR, though he still played 12 games, and hit the Saints’ reserve/PUP list to start training camp last year. That move ended Ramczyk’s season. The Saints used Trevor Penning in all 17 games at right tackle, with the 2022 first-rounder stabilizing his career to a degree after two rocky years. New Orleans drafted Taliese Fuaga to play left tackle.
The Saints still have two Brees-era O-line bastions — Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz — signed to extensions, but Ramczyk is all but certain to move off the team’s roster a year after an Andrus Peat contract reworking led to his exit.
Many teams have started signing players to reserve/futures contracts, allowing the organization to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players through the offseason. Here are the latest reserve/futures contracts:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Indianapolis Colts
Las Vegas Raiders
Miami Dolphins
San Francisco 49ers
Today’s practice squad transactions:
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
Washington Commanders
To make room for veteran RB Ezekiel Elliott, the Chargers moved on from a veteran wideout. Laviska Shenault spent the majority of this season with the Seahawks, where he hauled in five catches in 11 games. The former second-round pick caught on with the Chargers practice squad in December and ended up getting into one game with the squad.