Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:
Denver Broncos
Los Angeles Rams
Pittsburgh Steelers
We had heard a little over a week ago that the NFL’s annual scouting combine was in doubt, and now we’ve got confirmation of major changes. 
The league sent a memo to teams, which you can read in full via this tweet from Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, essentially killing the combine as we know it. There will be no mass gathering in Indianapolis, with no on-field in-person workouts happening. Any on-field workouts will happen at individual pro days on college campuses. There are always on-campus pro days, but the league says it will “work with schools to encourage consistency in testing and drills” across campuses.
It will also ensure that all teams have access to video from said pro days even if they don’t attend them live. “For a certain number of prospects,” there will also be an in-person medical examination at a designated location “likely in early April.” Each team can send one doctor and one athletic trainer.
There’s always a lot teams want to unearth medically at the combine each year, so those changes might be even more significant than the lack of on-field workouts. The club interviews with prospects will all be done virtually.
Another usual highlight from Indy is the prospect press conferences, which will apparently still happen in some form. Colleges will be asked to set up virtual media availabilities with combine prospects. The league is also asking NFL teams to still have their head coaches and executives hold media availabilities like always.
Those coach and GM press conferences at the combine always generate a ton of headlines, and hopefully this year isn’t any different. The combine is also usually where a lot of free agency and trade talk goes down, with agents and executives all mingling, and it’ll be interesting to see how this new format impacts that.
Here are the minor moves from divisional-round Saturday:
Cleveland Browns
Kansas City Chiefs
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Here are the latest NFL minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Green Bay Packers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Browns have activated left guard Joel Bitonio off of the COVID-19 list, per a club announcement. To make room, the Browns waived safety Tedric Thompson. The Browns will also have head coach Kevin Stefanski back on the sidelines against Kansas City, now that he’s been cleared.
Bitonio tested positive for the coronavirus just prior to the Browns’ first-round playoff game against the Steelers. It was a huge loss, but the Browns still managed to throttle the Steelers in the first quarter and hold on for the victory. Now, they’ll have the three-time Pro Bowler back in action as they face the Chiefs in the divisional round.
Bitonio has been a rock for the Browns throughout his seven-year career, despite constant instability in Cleveland. Up until the diagnosis, Bitonio hadn’t missed a snap since 2016. Still, the Browns aren’t 100% healthy on the offensive line. Tackle Jack Conklin was forced out of the Steelers game with a hamstring and his status might not be determined until we get closer to kickoff.
In addition to activating Bitonio, the Browns moved wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge off their reserve/COVID list. They will also have all their coaches back after coronavirus issues forced them to miss last week’s game. Secondary coach Jeff Howard, tight ends coach Drew Petzing and assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters will all coach Sunday, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes (Twitter links).
The Browns will have more of their regulars in uniform Sunday in Kansas City than they did in Pittsburgh last week. They activated cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Kevin Johnson off their reserve/COVID-19 list Wednesday.
Both players missed the past two games after testing positive for the coronavirus. NFL protocols would have permitted Ward to return last week, but he did not clear the necessary hurdles to return. The Browns beat the Steelers anyway, though Pittsburgh’s wide receivers enjoyed big days in Week 17 and in the teams’ opening-round matchup. The Chiefs are quite talented at this position as well.
An offseason addition, Johnson has operated as a part-time starter for the Browns. Ward has been the team’s No. 1 corner essentially since arriving in Cleveland in 2018. The Browns hope to have Joel Bitonio and wideout KhaDarel Hodge against the Chiefs as well.
Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan also returned to practice Wednesday. The veteran NFL staffer experienced COVID symptoms, according to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com, who adds Kevin Stefanski has encountered symptoms as well. However, Stefanski is expected to coach against the Chiefs. Wideouts coach Chad O’Shea was also symptomatic, per Cabot, but he is also back at practice. Assistant O-line coach Scott Peters, tight ends coach Drew Petzing and DBs coach Jeff Howard remain out due to COVID.
We’ll keep track of the latest practice squad moves here:
Cleveland Browns
New Orleans Saints
More good news for the Browns. After winning their first playoff game in ages, the team got an “all clear” on their latest round of COVID-19 testing, according to a source who spoke with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). 
After jumping out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, the Browns held on for their first postseason victory since 1994. They did it without their head coach on the sidelines, too. Browns special-teams coordinator and Cleveland native Mike Priefer led the way, as Kevin Stefanski kept his distance. Stefanski is expected to be cleared in time for this weekend, when the Browns look to upset the Chiefs.
“I want to congratulate our fans — I grew up one of them,” said Priefer (via ESPN.com). “I know what this means.”
The Browns will also hope to have Joel Bitonio back in action. The Pro Bowl guard was held out against the Steelers after testing for COVID-19 — ditto for wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge and two offensive assistants.
The big business machine that is the NFL has managed to make a television event out of the annual scouting combine. But regardless of how one feels about watching a series of college players running 40-yard dashes and three-cone drills in shorts, the combine is doubtlessly an important part in draft preparations for NFL teams.
However, as a result of COVID-19, the status of this year’s combine is in doubt. Within the next week or so, the league will decide whether there will be a combine and, if so, what form it will take, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com writes.
The combine has been held in Indianapolis every year since 1987, and the league could hold it in a “reduced form” on its regularly scheduled date and location in February (presumably, that simply means fewer players would be invited). The league could also push it back to April or simply hold a series of regional combines.
Since the combine is typically the first major event of the offseason calendar, any delay could impact the start of free agency, the draft, etc. And as Matt Miller of Bleacher Report observes (via Twitter), any change to the combine will increase the importance of the Senior Bowl and collegiate pro days (assuming they’re allowed).
Most importantly, as ESPN’s Kevin Seifert notes, this means that COVID-19 protocols are not going away and will be a factor for most of the offseason, if not all of it (Twitter link).
Drew Brees will have his top weapons back. The Saints activated both Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas on Saturday.
Thomas missed the Saints final three regular-season games, going on IR before Week 15 because of a troublesome ankle injury. Kamara is back after contracting COVID-19 last week. The All-Pro running back will end up missing just one game.
The Saints shut down Thomas in hopes he could recover from an injury that has bothered him for months. Thomas suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 1, costing him early-season time. That began a complicated season for the perennial Pro Bowler. The Saints handed Thomas a one-game suspension for striking a teammate and then saw him run into a hamstring injury in practice. Altogether, the fifth-year standout missed nine games this season.
Entering 2020, Thomas had missed just two contests. He finished the regular season with with just 40 catches for 438 yards and no touchdowns but will have a chance to end the season on a more positive note.
Kamara contracted the coronavirus shortly after his record-tying Christmas Day performance. Despite not playing in Week 17, the fourth-year running back finished the season with a league-high 21 touchdowns — six of which coming against the Vikings in Kamara’s most recent outing.
New Orleans has been without key cogs throughout the season, losing Brees and Emmanuel Sanders at points as well. Ahead of what could be Brees’ final postseason run, the Saints will have their top guns in uniform.