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NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/13/22

December 13th, 2022 at 7:56pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: QB Carson Strong

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: LB Nate Landman
  • Released: OL Parker Ferguson

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

  • Signed: LB Storey Jackson

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/10/22

December 10th, 2022 at 7:41pm CST by Adam La Rose

Here are the minor moves around the league in advance of the Week 14 slate of games:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Updated 2023 NFL Draft Order

December 8th, 2022 at 2:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL now has its first teams eliminated from playoff contention. The Texans and Bears, as they essentially have been doing throughout this season, are playing for next year. Other eliminations will soon follow, as the league’s playoff picture heats up.

Through that lens, the 2023 draft order will become an increasingly more pertinent topic. The 2023 draft will present an interesting subplot near its outset. Traded picks are set to produce early selections for the Seahawks, Lions and Eagles. Each of those picks currently land in the top five, as the teams on the other end of those trades — the Broncos, Rams and Saints — have disappointed, spectacularly so in Los Angeles and Denver’s cases.

For non-playoff teams, the draft order will be determined by the inverted 2022 standings — plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule — with playoff squads being slotted by their postseason outcome and regular-season record. Here is how the draft order would look entering Week 14:

  1. Houston Texans: 1-10-1
  2. Chicago Bears: 3-9
  3. Seattle Seahawks (via Broncos)
  4. Detroit Lions (via Rams)
  5. Philadelphia Eagles (via Saints)
  6. Carolina Panthers: 4-8
  7. Jacksonville Jaguars: 4-8
  8. Arizona Cardinals: 4-8
  9. Indianapolis Colts: 4-8-1
  10. Atlanta Falcons: 5-8
  11. Green Bay Packers: 5-8
  12. Las Vegas Raiders: 5-7
  13. Houston Texans (via Browns)
  14. Pittsburgh Steelers: 5-7
  15. Detroit Lions: 5-7
  16. Los Angeles Chargers: 6-6
  17. New England Patriots: 6-6
  18. Washington Commanders: 7-5-1
  19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 6-6*
  20. Seattle Seahawks: 7-5*
  21. Tennessee Titans: 7-5*
  22. New York Jets: 7-5*
  23. New York Giants: 7-4-1*
  24. Denver Broncos (via 49ers through Dolphins)*
  25. Baltimore Ravens: 8-4*
  26. Cincinnati Bengals: 8-4*
  27. Dallas Cowboys: 9-3*
  28. Kansas City Chiefs: 9-3*
  29. Minnesota Vikings: 10-2*
  30. Buffalo Bills: 9-3*
  31. Philadelphia Eagles: 11-1*

* = Denotes playoff team

The 2023 first round will resemble 2008 and 2016, when the Patriots were docked their Round 1 pick for their respective “gate” scandals. This year’s Dolphins saga never developed “gate” status, but the team lost a 2023 first-round pick and 2024 third-rounder due to the Tom Brady–Sean Payton tampering case. Thus, a 31-pick first round will commence.

While the Broncos, Rams and Browns lost their first-round picks due to trades for quarterbacks, the Saints passed theirs to the Eagles in this year’s pre-draft trade that allowed New Orleans a path toward moving up for Chris Olave. The No. 16 pick which was initially transferred from the Colts to the Eagles in 2021’s Carson Wentz trade was then moved to the Saints, netting Philadelphia a 2023 first-rounder and a 2024 second.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/7/22

December 7th, 2022 at 4:38pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Ellefson came off IR just last week and did not play in the Vikings’ matchup against the Jets. A nagging groin injury will send the third-year tight end back to IR. Although the new IR rules allow for players to be activated twice from IR, Minnesota’s injury-return math may come into play by the time Ellefson’s second activation window opens (Week 18).

In Darden, Browns snagged the NFL’s punt-return yards leader. The 2021 Bucs fourth-rounder has not seen much action on offense, with Tampa Bay oozing experience at the receiver position. But he has been Tampa Bay’s primary punt returner. Darden has totaled 330 punt-return yards this season. A 2021 third-round pick, Schwartz sustained a concussion that has sent him to IR. Ragland has spent the past month on the Raiders’ taxi squad. The Browns are the former second-round pick’s fifth team in four seasons; the ex-Jets draftee was with the Chiefs, Lions and Giants from 2019-21. After losing Anthony Walker and Jacob Phillips earlier this year, the Browns moved Sione Takitaki to IR with an ACL tear this week.

A rotational cog for the Saints, Colts and Chiefs during his five-year career, Stallworth played only 14% of Kansas City’s defensive snaps this season. He committed a third-down roughing-the-passer penalty during a Bengals touchdown drive in Week 13. The Texans had already used one of their injury activations on Dwumfour; the 1-10-1 team has three remaining. Greenard, who led the 2021 Texans with eight sacks, has been on the shelf since going down with a calf injury in an October practice.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/6/22

December 6th, 2022 at 6:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs

New Orleans Saints

  • Released from reserve/PUP list: TE Dylan Soehner

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Prior to waiving Stevenson, the Bills activated the second-year wide receiver from IR, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The procedural move would allow Stevenson — should he clear waivers — to return to Buffalo on a practice squad agreement. This will still count toward Buffalo’s eight injury activations, but the team still has six remaining. A 2021 sixth-round pick, Stevenson combined for 21 punt- and kick-return reps as a rookie.

The Eagles placed Robert Quinn on IR on Tuesday but will have a reinforcement in Robinson, a 2021 Vikings fourth-round pick. The Eagles signed Robinson off the Vikings’ practice squad in mid-September. He has yet to play in an NFL game.

A former franchise-tagged player, Harris was unable to carve out much of a role in Denver. The ex-Vikings and Eagles starter only played in three games for the Broncos, who signed him just before the season. Despite having a six-INT season on his resume, the 31-year-old defender did not play a defensive snap with the Broncos.

Browns LB Sione Takitaki Tears ACL

December 5th, 2022 at 9:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Browns are having persistent trouble keeping linebackers healthy. They lost another starter Sunday, with Kevin Stefanski confirming Sione Takitaki will miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear.

Takitaki’s ACL injury follows Anthony Walker‘s torn quadriceps tendon and Jacob Phillips‘ torn pec. This is obviously a chunk of second-level experience lost for a 5-7 Browns team facing a run-the-table scenario in order to make a playoff push.

This comes at a brutal point for Takitaki, who is months away from his first crack at unrestricted free agency. A former third-round pick out of BYU, Takitaki has started 29 games for the Browns, who drafted him during John Dorsey‘s GM tenure. With that regime no longer in place, it will be interesting to see how the Browns handle the fourth-year defender’s free agency. Takitaki, Walker and Deion Jones are eligible to hit the market in 2023. The team’s restructure with Jones, upon acquiring him from Atlanta, took a year off his Falcons-constructed extension.

Takitaki broke into Cleveland’s starting lineup during the franchise’s best season since rebooting, and he both notched a regular-season pick-six in that 2020 slate and intercepted Ben Roethlisberger during a COVID-affected Browns team’s wild-card upset win. This season, Pro Football Focus rates Takitaki (71 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble) as the Browns’ best off-ball ‘backer and a top-30 player at the position. This injury should affect his market, however. With Takitaki (28 in June) on the older end for a first-time free agent, this is a tough setback.

Cleveland still has Jones and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah healthy. Despite his pedigree, the longtime Falcons starter has worked mostly as a backup since the October trade. Although Jones has started two games with Cleveland, he has yet to exceed 20 snaps since his most recent start (Week 10). More should be needed from the seventh-year defender following the team’s latest linebacker injury, but second-year ‘backer Tony Fields has started the past two games. He played a career-high 33 defensive snaps against the Texans.

Browns HC Kevin Stefanski On Hot Seat?

December 3rd, 2022 at 10:02pm CST by Adam La Rose

The 2022 offseason saw a plethora of new head coaching hires around the league, though in some cases teams may very well have come to regret their additions. Two midseason firings took, but more dismissals could be coming in the near future or upon the conclusion of the regular season.

One name which is being floated in that regard is Browns HC Kevin Stefanski. According to executives who have spoken to the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora on the subject of coaches on the hot seat, Cleveland is a team to watch with respect to the 40-year-old.

Stefanski joined Cleveland in 2020 after a long tenure working on the Vikings’ offensive staff, including one full year as offensive coordinator. His inaugural season in Cleveland went well, as the team ended its playoff drought with an 11-5 season and earned a Wild Card round victory. That led to Coach of the Year honors, and significant expectations for the foreseeable future for both Stefanski and the organization.

Things have taken a turn for the worse since then, however. An injury-riddled Baker Mayfield hampered the Browns’ offense last season, one which ended up with an 8-9 record and a postseason absence. The team’s total – though not scoring – defense held up well, finishing fifth in the NFL, but it was not enough to avoid an early end to the campaign.

Expectations for the franchise changed once again this past offseason, with the acquisitions of quarterback Deshaun Watson and wideout Amari Cooper. To this point — a stretch which, in fairness, has consisted entirely of Watson’s suspension-induced absence — the Browns have seen little success outside of their rushing attack. The team sits at 4-7 on the season, which drops Stefanski’s overall record to 23-21. Defense has once again been a sore spot; the Browns rank 30th in points allowed per game (26), which has put increased pressure on their (previously) shorthanded offense.

Things could change with the return of Watson (who is under contract for four years after this), of course, but La Canfora notes that the next coaching cycle could favor defensive-minded candidates given the general success around the league on that side of the ball in 2022, and, perhaps, the struggles endured by the likes of Josh McDaniels and Nathaniel Hackett in Las Vegas and Denver, respectively.

After the recent firings of Matt Rhule and Frank Reich, Stefanski is now the 15th-longest tenured head coach in the NFL. How much higher up that list he is able climb could depend very much on the team’s performance to close out this season, and could become a talking point in the winter especially if a late turnaround does not take place.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/3/22

December 3rd, 2022 at 7:49pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are the league’s minor transactions leading into the Sunday-slate of Week 13 games:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

AFC Rumors: Texans, Jeudy, Njoku

December 2nd, 2022 at 10:07pm CST by Ely Allen

The Texans will be without two key players as they go up against their former quarterback and the Browns this weekend, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2. Leading wide receiver Brandin Cooks and rookie cornerback Derek Stingley have been ruled out going into the weekend.

Houston has struggled mightily so far this year en route to a 1-9-1 record. Despite the promise heading into the year of the connection between second-year starting quarterback Davis Mills and Cooks, neither has quite lived up to their potential. Mills has officially lost the starting job he earned as a rookie, getting benched for Kyle Allen. Cooks, after cracking the 1,000-yard receiving mark in each of his first two seasons with the Texans, will be hard-pressed to reach that achievement this year as he currently boasts 520 receiving yards with only seven games remaining. Cooks will miss his second game of the season with a calf injury, and the Texans will be forced to lean on Nico Collins, Chris Moore, Phillip Dorsett, and Amari Rodgers to hopefully make up for the loss of Cooks.

Stingley is set to miss his third game in a row with a hamstring issue. Stingley has endured a rough transition to the NFL. So far in his rookie season, Stingley has only graded out as the NFL’s 107th-best cornerback, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Still, he is third on the Texans with five passes defensed and tied for second with one interception, showing that he makes an impact on a defense that has struggled for much of the year. In Stingley’s absence, Desmond King will continue to start opposite Steven Nelson with Tavierre Thomas getting some solid action, as well.

Here are a few other injury rumors from around the AFC, starting with some potentially good news at Mile High:

  • Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy could be set to make a return to the field against the Ravens this weekend, according to Kyle Newman of the Denver Post. After a two-week absence, the third-year wide out is a game-time decision to play. KJ Hamler will miss a fourth straight game, after suffering a recent setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury. Jeudy’s return would be a big boost for a Denver team that has been forced to rely on Kendall Hinton, Montrell Washington, and Brandon Johnson as its Courtland Sutton supporting cast over the past two games.
  • After returning for two straight games, Browns tight end David Njoku has been ruled out once again, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Despite a slow start to the season, Njoku had begun a streak of strong performances to justify his new contract. Unfortunately, his momentum came to a crashing halt when he missed two games with an ankle injury. Coming off a five-catch performance last week that included a game-tying touchdown catch with 32 seconds remaining, seeing Njoku sidelined once again, this time with a knee injury, is the last thing Browns fans were hoping to see.
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