Today’s practice squad transactions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: S Jovante Moffatt
Baltimore Ravens
- Released: OLB Kyler Fackrell
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: OT Brandon Shell
- Released: DT Christopher Hinton
Josh Gordon looks set to see action for a fifth NFL team. The Titans used one of their game-day elevations on the veteran wide receiver Monday, bumping him up to their 53-man roster ahead of their Week 2 Bills matchup.
The ex-Browns, Patriots, Seahawks and Chiefs pass catcher signed with the Titans’ practice squad shortly after his Chiefs release. Kansas City wanted to keep the former All-Pro target on its P-squad, but Gordon (via TitanInsider.com’s Terry McCormick) viewed Tennessee as a better opportunity.
The All-Pro version of Gordon is long gone. His run of suspensions saw to that. The 2013 first-team All-Pro is entering his age-31 season and is coming off a 2021 slate in which the Chiefs used him sparingly. But Gordon, who has seen substance-abuse suspensions define his career, made it through last season without incident. The talented pass catcher now looks to contribute with a Titans receiving corps still adjusting to post-A.J. Brown life.
Tennessee traded Brown after three seasons and used a first-round pick on Treylon Burks. The Arkansas product joins 2022 trade acquisition Robert Woods, fifth-round rookie Kyle Philips and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine as the Titans’ top receivers. Although Burks submitted an uneven offseason and was set to be eased into rookie-year work, he played well as a part-timer in Week 1. Playing 37% of the Titans’ offensive snaps, Burks caught three passes for 55 yards. Philips moved into a more regular role and caught six passes for 66 yards in his debut.
Gordon played 12 Chiefs games last season, catching five passes for 32 yards and a touchdown. The mercurial weapon did not play in 2020, with off-field struggles again intervening, but did contribute during much of the 2018 Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning season (720 receiving yards, three TDs in 11 games) and totaled 426 yards in 11 2019 contests — with the Patriots and Seahawks.
Jaylon Smith is back with the Giants. The veteran linebacker, who started two games with the NFC East squad last season, rejoined the team Monday, according to his agent (on Twitter).
The longtime Cowboys starter has bounced around since his Dallas stay abruptly ended early during the 2021 campaign, but teams have continued to offer opportunities. Smith, 27, played for three teams — the Cowboys, Packers and Giants — in 2021. This move comes ahead of the Giants’ Week 3 game against the Cowboys.
This could well be a practice squad agreement, but in the 16-player P-squad era, those transactions have regularly led to promotions for veterans. Teams are allowed to carry six vested veterans on practice squads. A 2016 second-round pick, Smith has 58 career starts (56 as a Cowboy) and certainly would upgrade the Giants’ experience on their defensive second level.
The Cowboys gave Smith a five-year, $63.75MM deal in 2019. Smith made the Pro Bowl that year and tallied a career-high 154 tackles in 2020, but the Cowboys went in another direction under 2021 DC hire Dan Quinn. The team has cut costs along its linebacking corps, which is now built around star hybrid player Micah Parsons‘ rookie contract.
The new Giants regime made a late-summer roster tweak by releasing two-year starter Blake Martinez, leaving an uncertain lot of defenders at this position group under new DC Don Martindale. The team has Tae Crowder positioned as its top off-ball linebacker but has not established a second full-timer at the position thus far this season.
Although Smith at his best would easily profile as a starter-caliber player in New York, teams have not viewed the former Notre Dame star as a starter-caliber player since his Cowboys release. The Packers released Smith not long after signing him last year, and the Giants did not opt to bring him back in free agency after the parties’ late-season partnership. Smith made 19 tackles and registered a sack during his four-game Giants cameo last season.
The Bills’ passing attack will see one of its top cogs miss Week 2. Gabe Davis is not expected to play Monday night, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.
Davis suffered a noncontact ankle injury during Buffalo’s Saturday practice, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. It will lead to an absence against the Titans. This is an early blow to a Bills team coming off a dominant season-opening win over the Rams. The Bills have officially declared Davis inactive.
After Buffalo let Emmanuel Sanders walk in free agency — months ahead of the veteran’s retirement — Davis moved into the team’s starting lineup opposite Stefon Diggs on the outside. The team also released Cole Beasley this offseason, leading to an Isaiah McKenzie–Jamison Crowder slot pairing. Both the inside receivers played extensively in Week 1. Each should be expected to play a bigger role tonight.
A former fourth-round pick, Davis has been a steady part of Buffalo’s passing game since his rookie season. The Central Florida alum surpassed 500 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons, despite the presences of John Brown and then Sanders as starters. Davis delivered one of the great receiving games in NFL history in January, catching a playoff-record four touchdown passes in the Bills’ shootout loss to the Chiefs. That offered the Bills more than enough evidence to indicate the 6-foot-2 target was ready for a full-time role in 2022.
Depth-wise, Jake Kumerow and fifth-round pick Khalil Shakir round out Buffalo’s receiving corps. The rookie, who topped 1,100 receiving yards as a Boise State senior, did not dress for the Bills’ Los Angeles opener. Shakir should be expected to suit up Monday, with ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen indicating the team has confidence the rookie can contribute (Twitter link). Having famously received an Aaron Rodgers endorsement, Kumerow has been with the Bills since 2020. He has played mostly on special teams, having caught just three passes for 50 yards as a Bill.
After an eight-game 2021 season, Chase Roullier is facing a second straight year with an extended absence. The Commanders center is heading to IR with what ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes (via Twitter) is a significant knee injury.
Roullier, who suffered a season-ending fibula fracture in Week 8 last year, will seek a second opinion on his latest injury, according to John Keim of ESPN.com. The veteran center left Sunday’s game with barely a minute remaining and exited Ford Field on crutches.
Last year’s injury required extensive procedures, leading Roullier to begin Washington’s 2022 training camp on the active/PUP list. He joined Chase Young and Logan Thomas as notable Commanders needing additional rehab from injuries sustained last season. Roullier, 29, returned to work and was good to go by Week 1, beginning his sixth season as Washington’s center starter. Now, the Commanders will need to make another adjustment.
Wes Schweitzer will take over for Roullier at center, Keim adds. One of many veteran presences on Washington’s O-line, Schweitzer began his season as the team’s starting right guard. The Commanders signed longtime Panthers starter Trai Turner this offseason. After not cracking Washington’s starting lineup to open the season, Turner will become the team’s full-time right guard. He did line up with the starters in Detroit due to a Schweitzer hamstring injury.
This is a tough blow to a team that lost perennial Pro Bowl guard Brandon Scherff in free agency. Pro Football Focus has rated the Washington O-line as the league’s sixth-best blocking unit in 2020 and 2021. While injuries have regularly hit this position group, Washington not having Scherff to anchor this year’s front five will make for a more difficult task replacing Roullier. Washington gave the former sixth-round pick a four-year, $40.5MM deal at the end of the 2020 season. That accord ranks as the NFL’s sixth-most lucrative center contract. Roullier (63 career starts) has been a first-unit presence since his rookie year.
A former Falcons starter, Schweitzer is in Year 3 of a three-year, $13.5MM Washington deal. The 29-year-old blocker has made 18 starts with Washington and 51 over the course of his seven-year career. The ex-sixth-rounder has almost exclusively played guard, however. Turner, 29, is even more experienced, having lined up as a starting guard 107 times.
The Chiefs will be without one of their young linebacker starters for an extended stretch. Willie Gay received a four-game suspension Monday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
This ban is for a personal conduct policy violation, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. In January, Gay was arrested on a misdemeanor criminal damage charge in connection with an incident in which he was visiting his son’s house and, amid an argument with the child’s mother, damaged property in her home. Gay, 24, agreed to a pretrial diversion program in June.
Gay, who played 92% of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps in their win over the Chargers, has been a full-time starter for most of his career. This will mark another absence for the former second-round pick, however. Gay missed five games due to injury in 2021.
Gay and 2021 second-rounder Nick Bolton reside as the Chiefs’ top linebackers. The latter is Kansas City’s centerpiece player at the position, but Gay has made 21 career starts. He has 16 tackles (two for loss) and two passes defensed through two games this season. He will miss games against the Colts, Buccaneers, Raiders and Bills.
Pro Football Focus rated Gay as a top-25 linebacker last season, one that featured two interceptions. A significant usage gap exists between Bolton and Gay and the rest of Kansas City’s linebackers, though the team did use a third-round pick on rookie Leo Chenal. The Chiefs have used Chenal on 32 defensive plays this season. Darius Harris, a former UDFA who has bounced on and off the Chiefs’ practice squad during his career, has logged 18 defensive snaps thus far this year.
Yesterday’s game against the Dolphins resulted in losses both on and off the scoreboard for the Ravens. Defensive end Steven Means suffered a torn Achilles yesterday, as confirmed by head coach John Harbaugh. 
The 32-year-old saw the field for one-third of Baltimore’s defensive snaps in Week 1, but but only logged one snap yesterday. The veteran was brought in during the post-draft wave of free agency to provide depth at a position of need for the Ravens, and playing time was likely to remain available for the foreseeable future for him.
Means had become a full-time starter last season, his third with the Falcons. While he didn’t record any sacks, he set a new career-high with 43 tackles, setting him up for at least a rotational role in Baltimore. Instead, the former fifth-rounder is now dealing with an Achilles tear for the second time in his career, having suffered one in 2019.
The same fate has already befallen Ravens tackle Ja’Wuan James, who had been operating as the team’s starting left tackle in the absence of Ronnie Stanley before going down last week. In the season opener, cornerback Kyle Fuller also suffered a torn ACL, bringing the number of season-ending injuries the Ravens have already suffered to three – a figure which harkens back to last year when numerous key players were sidelined throughout the campaign.
Without Means, the Ravens will need to rely even more heavily on Odafe Oweh and Justin Houston, now the team’s only two healthy outside linebackers on the 53-man roster. 2021 sack leader Tyus Bowser and second-round rookie David Ojabo are each recovering from Achilles tears of their own, leaving the team dangerously thin in the edge-rush department until at least one of them returns. In all likelihood, Baltimore will elevate recent signing Kyler Fackrell from the practice squad as they aim to get back in the win column against the Patriots.
2:47pm: In a statement, the team confirmed that the procedure was successful in repairing a “fibula fracture and ligament disruption.” The 49ers are confident that Lance will be able to make a full recovery in time for the start of the 2023 season.
1:54pm: One day after his season came to an abrupt end, Trey Lance is beginning the recovery process which will allow him to get back on the field. The 49ers quarterback is undergoing surgery to repair his fractured and dislocated ankle today, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. 
Lance was carted off the field during yesterday’s game against the Seahawks. The injury was immediately thought to be serious, and it was confirmed not long after that season-ending surgery would be required. Pelissero notes that the 22-year-old did not suffer a compound fracture, but that provides little in the way of consolation considering the blow this injury represents to his career arc and San Francisco’s QB plans.
2022 was meant to mark the beginning of Lance’s tenure as the undisputed starter, something which was signalled last April when the 49ers traded up to draft him third overall. Veteran Jimmy Garoppolo helped guide the team to the NFC title game last year, but was thought to be a key figure in the offseason’s quarterback market. A shoulder injury left San Francisco with few suitors outside of their division, however.
Ultimately, he stayed in San Francisco on a deal which greatly reduced his base salary but includes plenty of incentives. The fact that he has now once again become the No. 1 gives the 30-year-old significant earning potential. As detailed by ESPN’s Field Yates (on Twitter), Garoppolo could make $5.6MM based on playing time and victories, in addition to his $6.5MM base salary, which is fully guaranteed.
A repeat of last year’s success (along with that of the 2019 campaign, in which the 49ers went to the Super Bowl) cannot be ruled out, given Garoppolo’s track record. Still, he is scheduled to hit free agency this spring, while the 49ers will no doubt keep an eye on the recovery process of their presumed future franchise signal-caller.
The Rams have been dealt another blow up front. Tremayne Anchrum, who had just been promoted to the team’s starting right guard spot, suffered a fractured fibula which will require surgery and a stint on IR, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). 
The 2020 seventh-rounder operated exclusively as a reserve in his rookie season, and did not see the field at all last year. He competed with third-round rookie Logan Bruss and veteran Coleman Shelton for the starting role at RG this offseason. The former’s season-ending knee injury started a run of health concerns along the o-line for the defending champions.
Starting center Brian Allen is also battling a knee injury, though his recovery timeline is much shorter. It was that ailment which forced the Rams to move Shelton from guard to center, opening the door to Anchrum becoming a first-teamer. That was very short-lived, as he played just two offensive snaps during the team’s win over the Falcons. With Allen all-but assured to have returned by the time Anchrum is healed, the 24-year-old is likely destined to once again serve as a backup when he recovers.
Alaric Jackson, who joined the Rams last season as a UDFA, took over after Anchrum’s injury. He will likely get the start next week as the team continues to shuffle an o-line dealing with numerous injury problems. The teams’ first divisional matchup will come on Sunday against the Cardinals.
The Packers hoped to have David Bakhtiari back in the lineup to start the 2022 season, but that has not come to fruition. The All-Pro left tackle sat out once again during last night’s game against the Bears, and is facing an unusual practice routine when he does make his return. 
As detailed by Ryan Woods of PackersNews.com, Bakhtiari will not suit up for each of the three consecutive practice days during any given week, even after he has fully recovered from the ACL tear which occurred on New Year’s Eve in 2020. The soon-to-be 31-year-old will therefore not have a full week of preparation in advance of any games he does appear in this season.
“He’s gotten a lot of reps,” head coach Matt LaFleur said of Bakhtiari’s slow journey back to game action. “There’s not many people that can probably have a schedule like that, but I do believe – and we believe as an organization – that he’s one of those guys.”
The former fourth-rounder earned Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro honors in 2020, but was limited to just one game played last season as he attempted to come back from the injury. He underwent a third knee surgery this offseason, which led to a stay on the PUP list but also optimism that he would be fully recovered in time for the season opener. In the absence of that taking place, Yosuah Nijman has filled in on the blindside.
In more positive health news, Green Bay was able to welcome back fellow Pro Bowl tackle Elgton Jenkins and No. 1 receiver Allen Lazard yesterday, after the pair were sidelined for Week 1. Their health will give the Packers’ offense a notable boost, but the team’s second highest-paid player appears to face plenty of uncertainty in the short- and long-term future with respect to his availability.