Friday’s reserve/futures contracts around the league:
Atlanta Falcons
Buffalo Bills
Minnesota Vikings
New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Commanders
Friday’s only minor moves in anticipation for tomorrow’s divisional round games are standard gameday practice squad elevations:
Houston Texans
Kansas City Chiefs
JANUARY 17: Watson has indeed been activated, per a team announcement. He will be in line to handle a significant workload on Saturday and beyond if the Chiefs manage another deep postseason run.
JANUARY 16: Jaylen Watson is expected to return from IR just in time for the Chiefs’ playoff opener. According to Nate Taylor of The Athletic, the Chiefs are expected to activate their starting cornerback before Saturday’s divisional round matchup with the Texans.
Watson suffered a fractured fibula and tibia back in Week 7 that was expected to knock him out for the rest of the season. Instead, the former seventh-round pick has worked his way back in just a few months. Watson was a full participant at practice on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and Taylor believes the 26-year-old could play a majority of his team’s snaps this weekend. Of course, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was quick to caution that his CB will need to knock off any rust.
“I think these next two (practices) will be really important,” Spagnuolo said (via Taylor). “He needs to get up to the speed of the game — and it’s not regular-season speed. It’s playoff speed.”
After serving as a rotational defensive back through his first two years in the league, Watson took on a larger role in 2023. The cornerback started each of Kansas City’s first six games, appearing in 91 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. In those six appearances, Watson compiled 32 tackles and six passes defended, with Pro Football Focus grading him 30th among 117 qualifying cornerbacks.
As Taylor notes, Watson combined with All-Pro CB Trent McDuffie to limit opposing passers to a 60 percent completion percentage. When the likes of Joshua Williams, Nazeeh Johnson, and Chris Roland-Wallace filled in, that number jumped to 67 percent, so Watson should provide a boost to the team’s defense.
Today’s reserve/futures contracts:
Arizona Cardinals
Minnesota Vikings
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Cardinals snagged a pair of wide receivers from recently-eliminated playoff teams. Quez Watkins spent all of this season on the Steelers practice squad, while Trishton Jackson was a member of the Vikings’ taxi squad when they were knocked out of the postseason. Watkins brings the most experience of the duo, as the former sixth-round pick got into 49 games with the Eagles between 2020 and 2023.
The Vikings added a former 49ers third-round pick in Ambry Thomas. The cornerback got into 42 games across three seasons in San Francisco, collecting 79 tackles and two interceptions. Thomas spent most of the 2024 campaign on the 49ers injured reserve, but he was cut by the team last month. He was claimed by the Colts but immediately released after failing a physical, and he subsequently landed on Minnesota’s practice squad.
The Rams designated linebacker Troy Reeder and defensive end Larrell Murchison to return from injured reserve, per a team announcement.
Reeder started the Rams’ first six games of the season before a hamstring injury forced him on injured reserve. Christian Rozeboom and Omar Speights stepped up and stayed healthy in his place, but neither has been a high-impact defender. Los Angeles has relied more on a young, explosive pass rush to make up for their deficiencies in coverage.
Murchison has dealt with multiple injuries this season. He landed on injured reserve during final roster cuts with an arm injury, but was designated to return via the NFL’s new IR rules. He returned to practice in October, but broke his foot that same week, sidelining him for the rest of the regular season. Each being activated would leave the Rams with no more activations. Teams received two more activations in the playoffs this year; the Rams had used all their regular-season IR-return moves.
Both players will practice with their teammates and work towards playing in the divisional round this weekend, but the Rams defense has been excellent without them as of late. Other than a 30-point outburst by the Seahawks in Week 18, the Rams’ last four opponents have averaged just 8.25 points, and none broke into double-digit territory.
With a full 53-man roster, Los Angeles will have to decide how much Reeder and Murchison will add compared to the players they’d replace. Activating Reeder would make sense; he played 94% of the team’s defensive snaps when he was healthy, and the Rams only have three active inside linebackers. However, Murchison’s practice period will be crucial to see if he can immediately play in the playoffs after a year away from the field.
The latest turn in Diontae Johnson‘s journeyman 2024 season took place yesterday when he was waived by the Texans. The veteran wideout’s future for the remainder of the campaign has now been settled. 
Johnson was claimed off waivers by the Ravens on Wednesday, per the transactions wire (h/t ESPN’s Adam Schefter). To be clear, this is merely a procedural move; he will not suit up for Baltimore over the remainder of the postseason. Like all waived players at this time of year, Johnson will not formally be awarded to the team until after the Super Bowl.
By virtue of being a Raven once the league year ends, Johnson departing on the open market could put Baltimore in line for a 2026 compensatory pick. More immediately, this move prevents the 28-year-old from becoming a free agent amongst the eight remaining playoff team. Had Johnson cleared waivers, an interested suitor could have brought him in as depth option on offense.
Considering how this campaign has played out, of course, it would have come as a surprise if any team had been particularly keen on bringing Johnson in for the stretch run. The former Steeler was traded to the Panthers this offseason, and his early production with Carolina was notable given the team’s offensive struggles. As the trade deadline approached, it became clear a deal sending the pending free agent elsewhere was likely, and he was sent to Baltimore.
That move resulted in sparse usage, however, something Johnson took issue with. After making only four appearances with the Ravens, he was waived and claimed by the Texans as part of their efforts to replace the injured Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell. Johnson played only one game during the regular season before taking part in last week’s wild-card contest, and his playing time (or lack thereof) was again an issue. The Toledo product’s latest departure came as no surprise, and it compounds what will already be a very poor free agent market this spring.
Now, Johnson will be able to turn his attention to free agency in March. Once his two-year, $36.71MM pact expires, it will be interesting to see how many teams are willing to entertain signing him.
Wednesday’s reserve/futures deals around the NFL:
Denver Broncos
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Wednesday’s taxi squad moves:
Buffalo Bills
Houston Texans
Kansas City Chiefs
Diontae Johnson‘s latest NFL gig has proven to be short-lived. The Texans waived the veteran wideout today, per a team announcement. In another roster move, tight end Cade Stover has been placed on injured reserve.
This continues an astoundingly eventful year for Johnson, who entered the 2024 offseason as one of the NFL’s top route runners and as a player who could have commanded considerable value in free agency — once he reached that point. A year later, a receiver who had been attached to a two-year, $36.7MM contract has torpedoed his value by wearing out his welcome everywhere he has gone. And he has now traveled to many NFL cities.
A fourth team has now given up on him in a 10-month span. Traded from the Steelers and Panthers, Johnson has now seen the Ravens and Texans waive him. Two teams — the Texans and Chargers — claimed Johnson once Baltimore moved on last month. Johnson, 28, now appears headed to free agency. It is difficult to overstate the damage the sixth-year wideout has done to his NFL stock.
Following the Texans’ wild-card rout over the Chargers, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson reports Johnson was visibly upset and needed to be calmed down by teammates. Issues with his usage, the theme of his Baltimore tenure, resurfaced in Houston.
Johnson played 16 offensive snaps for the Texans, who used the former Steelers target commander on 22 plays against the Titans. Johnson caught one pass for 12 yards against the Bolts; he snared two passes for 12 yards against the Titans in Week 18. This usage reminded of the role the Ravens gave the depressed asset, and Johnson has voiced considerable displeasure about this participation downturn.
It should be expected Johnson will generate internal discussions from teams who need receiver help for 2025, but anything beyond a one-year “prove it” deal seems unrealistic at this point. Johnson’s regular production with the Steelers aside, it will be difficult for teams to divorce that from his tumultuous 2024 season. Johnson still resembled his Pittsburgh version in Carolina, averaging 51 yards per game (30 catches, 357 yards); that is in line with some of his lower-octane Steelers seasons. But he has either wanted to leave teams (Steelers, Panthers) or seen them move on from him (Ravens, Texans). That will be a tough sell for personnel departments moving forward.
Johnson had wanted the Texans to trade for him at the deadline, but the Ravens did so instead. The former Steelers third-round find griped about his playing time in Baltimore and eventually refused to enter a Ravens-Eagles game, leading to a suspension. After that one-game ban, the Ravens did not activate him for their Week 16 game against the Giants. Days later, Baltimore waived the sunk cost. While Johnson was connected to the Chargers and Chiefs, the Texans swooped in with a claim. DeMeco Ryans had praised Johnson as recently as last week. Ditto Joe Mixon, via Wilson. None of it ultimately mattered, and the former 1,100-yard Ben Roethlisberger target will seek a fifth NFL home soon.
The Texans have not seen C.J. Stroud take a step forward after his breakthrough rookie season, but in the 2023 No. 2 overall pick’s defense, he lost his No. 2 and No. 3 receivers — Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell — for the season. Dell’s injury, a severe knee setback that required ambulance transportation from Arrowhead Stadium in Week 16, prompted the Johnson claim. The Texans, however, used Robert Woods, John Metchie and Xavier Hutchinson in front of Johnson in the wild-card round. That trio will again complement Nico Collins as the Texans aim to derail the Chiefs’ threepeat bid Saturday.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Former Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson has signed a reserve/futures contract with the Steelers, according to his agency, SportsTrust Advisors.
In 2024, Thompson beat out Mike White for the Dolphins’ backup quarterback job during training camp and appeared in three regular season games, including a Week 3 start in place of Tua Tagovailoa after his concussion. Thompson was sacked five times in the game before leaving with a rib injury. He played just two more snaps before the end of the season and finished with 21 completions on 33 attempts for 187 passing yards.
The former seventh-round pick also started two games during Tagovailoa’s absence in Thompson’s 2022 rookie year. The former Kansas State Wildcat struggled in his first taste of NFL action, completing just 60 of his 105 passing attempts for 534 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions.
Now, Thompson will join the Steelers as Mike Tomlin and his staff prepare to spend a second straight offseason navigating the quarterback position. Last year, they signed Russell Wilson and traded for Justin Fields, who combined for less than $5MM against the salary cap, per OverTheCap. Wilson won the starting job in training camp, but a calf injury gave Fields the chance to start the first six games of the 2024 season. The Steelers led the AFC North with a 4-2 record with Fields under center, but still turned to Wilson once he was healthy. Pittsburgh went 6-5 in his starts and fell to second place in the division after two losses to the Ravens.
Fields averaged 158.5 passing yards per game in his starts compared to Wilson’s 225.6, but the players recorded similar passer ratings. Fields also brought more to the run game and occasionally took the field for Wilson in short-yardage situations later in the season. Wilson has recently expressed his desire to remain in Pittsburgh, but his late-season struggles may have the team turning towards a younger and less expensive option in Fields.
Regardless of which 2024 starter stays in Pittsburgh, Thompson will likely compete for the Steelers’ backup gig next summer. As of now, no other quarterbacks are under contract, though Kyle Allen could re-sign after spending this year as the third-stringer.