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Minor NFL Transactions: 12/23/23

December 23rd, 2023 at 7:53pm CST by Adam La Rose

Saturday’s gameday elevations and other minor moves around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys 

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Jets

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

The Bills will not have depth running back Ty Johnson available for tonight’s game, leading to the decision to elevate Fournette. The former Super Bowl champion will thus make his Buffalo debut, although with lead back James Cook in the lineup, Fournette will likely not receive many looks on offense. The latter has already returned a kickoff for the first time in his career, however.

Signed to the Dolphins’ practice squad last week, Ingram will also make his 2023 debut in Week 16. The 34-year-old last played during his Miami stint in 2022, during which time he started three games and recorded six sacks. With Jaelan Phillips out for the year, Ingram will look to once again give the Dolphins a rotational presence off the edge.

Vikings Activate LB Jordan Hicks From IR, Waive LB Nick Vigil

December 23rd, 2023 at 7:08pm CST by Adam La Rose

Marking another step in his recovery process from a frightening injury situation, Jordan Hicks is set to return to the field. The veteran linebacker was activated from injured reserve by the Vikings on Saturday, per a team announcement.

Hicks returned to practice this week after recovering from emergency surgery brought about by a case of compartment syndrome. The injury caused a six-week absence and threatened to keep him out for the remainder of the campaign. Hicks is now in place to resume starting duties at the second level. Nick Vigil, who had filled in during Hicks’ absence, was waived to make room on the roster.

Minnesota has managed to stay in contention for a playoff spot despite injuries to the likes of Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson. Losing Hicks marked a blow to the team’s defense as well, though, given his importance to the unit. Despite the missed time, the 31-year-old still ranks third on the team in tackles with 87. Hicks has added one interception, one sack and a fumble returned for a touchdown in his second Vikings campaign.

The former third-rounder drew trade interest ahead of the deadline, but the Vikings opted against a seller’s stance. As a result, he remains in place to close out the campaign, something which will be a welcomed development for Minnesota’s defense. That unit in general, and defensive coordinator Brian Flores in particular, have drawn praise for their play (the closing stages of last week’s loss to the Bengals notwithstanding).

Hicks’ injury created a larger workload for Ivan Pace Jr. at the linebacker spot. The undrafted rookie has impressed during the year, but especially in recent games with at least nine tackles in each of the past four contests. He and Hicks will look to keep Minnesota’s playoff push alive as the 7-7 outfit prepares for the first of two games against the Lions within the final three weeks of the campaign. Vigil, meanwhile, will be available to sign with the Vikings or any other team if he clears waivers.

Updated 2024 NFL Draft Order

December 20th, 2023 at 1:41pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Panthers’ Week 15 win over the Falcons brought the Patriots and Cardinals, who each lost, one game closer to the No. 1 overall pick. New England’s weaker strength of schedule provides keeps Arizona in the No. 3 spot, while Washington — weeks away from a likely full-scale reboot — has lost five straight to move into position for its first top-five pick since 2020.

Early reports have the Bears more likely to draft Justin Fields‘ replacement than trading a top pick once again, but the Patriots and Cardinals are still in the running for what could well be the Caleb Williams draft slot. Much less drama would emerge if New England claimed the top pick, as the Patriots would be expected to draft the top QB prize. Arizona landing atop the draft for the second time in six years could produce a derby, with Kyler Murray‘s contract difficult (but not impossible) to move for new GM Monti Ossenfort. QB-needy teams may well be hoping the Cardinals land one of the top two spots, however, providing a potential gateway to a trade-up for Williams or Drake Maye.

The Raiders’ 63-21 demolition of the Chargers slid them down six spots compared to their position last week. The Packers also climbed eight spots from their slot going into Week 15. Green Bay has not held a top-11 draft choice since it drafted B.J. Raji in the 2009 first round; that came on the heels of Aaron Rodgers‘ first season at the helm. Jordan Love‘s QB1 debut season could still produce a playoff berth, however, and the rest of the NFC and AFC wild-card races remain tightly bunched.

Here is how the 2024 draft order looks with three regular-season games to play:

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

Vikings Designate OLB Jordan Hicks To Return From IR

December 18th, 2023 at 10:09pm CST by Ely Allen

After not missing a single game since 2018, Vikings outside linebacker Jordan Hicks has now missed the past four weeks of the season. Minnesota is hopeful that they will be able to start a new streak for Hicks after opening his 21-day practice window to come off of injured reserve today.

Hicks suffered a shin contusion in the team’s win over the Saints weeks ago and, as the game progressed, began feeling numbness and losing strength in his leg. The pain reportedly became excruciating, causing him to sweat profusely and lie in the fetal position, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. Hicks underwent “emergency surgery” hours later and was subsequently placed on IR. Luckily, a successful surgery helped Hicks to avoid permanent damage in a situation that reportedly “often results in muscle loss or even amputation.”

Despite that, Hicks has been around the team, in the Vikings’ facility, attending meetings, rehabilitating. According to Seifert, defensive coordinator Brian Flores has expressed optimism that Hicks will be able to make a return this year, hence today’s designation.

If Hicks is able to make his comeback this year, it will provide a bit of a happy ending to what was a scary situation. If the Vikings hope to have Hicks in a potential playoff push and run, he will need to be activated with the next three weeks. Otherwise, we won’t see Hicks again until the 2024 season.

Vikings To Start Nick Mullens In Week 16

December 18th, 2023 at 2:57pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Vikings’ playoff prospects took a hit on Saturday, but a quarterback change does not appear to be imminent. Minnesota is expected to stick with Nick Mullens as the starter under center, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. Head coach Kevin O’Connell has since confirmed the news.

Mullens started in Week 15 against the Bengals after taking over from Josh Dobbs midway through the previous game. The move came as little surprise given the latter’s struggles after a surprisingly impressive first few contests in Minnesota, and the former’s status as Kirk Cousins‘ backup to begin the year. Mullens missed time due to a back injury which coincided with Cousins’ Achilles tear, but he is now in place to finish the campaign atop the depth chart.

“The biggest thing is Nick showed he can execute our offense and really move the football team,” O’Connell said, via Fowler’s colleague Kevin Seifert. “I think what we’ve got to continue to work through are those plays where we don’t try to do too much.”

O’Connell stopped short of naming Mullens the starter for the rest of the season, so a game-to-game approach will remain in place for the time being. The 28-year-old threw for 303 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 26-of-33 passing in the Vikings’ loss to the Bengals, but he also had a pair of interceptions. Mullens was stopped on a key fourth-and-one in overtime, which set up Cincinnati’s game-winning field goal. While there is room for improvement, Mullens will have the opportunity to rebound in Week 16.

The Vikings are set to play the Lions for the first of two meetings in the final three weeks of the season, and winning against the NFC North leaders will be critical to Minnesota’s playoff chances. The Vikings sit at 7-7 on the year, putting them in contention for a wild-card berth. With wideout Justin Jefferson back in the lineup, the team’s offense could deliver strong showings in the passing game with Mullens at the helm down the stretch.

The former UDFA is under contract through 2024, making his future much more certain than that of Cousins. The latter is set to hit free agency this offseason, though the Vikings are open to another new contract with the four-time Pro Bowler. Regardless of what happens on that front, Mullens could earn the No. 2 job moving forward (a spot rookie Jaren Hall will be competing for) with a strong showing in his temporary period as a starter.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/15/23

December 15th, 2023 at 7:54pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s minor transactions, including some practice squad callups for the Saturday games:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

Indianapolis Colts

Minnesota Vikings

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

Getting Charles back should provide a bit of a boost for a Commanders’ offensive line that has allowed quarterback Sam Howell to be sacked an NFL-leading 58 times. That being said, they led the league in that category when Charles was healthy, as well. Still, as Charles attempts to come back from the calf injury that sidelined him for six games, he’ll have to overcome second-year guard Chris Paul, who has been starting in his place since the injury. While Charles had been struggling in a contract year, his replacement has ranked as the fourth-worst guard in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Wormley, Krull, and Senat all make their way up to the active roster for two reasons: first, injuries, and second, they’ve already appeared as standard gameday elevations off of the practice squad the maximum three times. In order to appear in any other games this year, all three needed to be signed to new contracts. If the players they are replacing come back from injury before the end of the season, any of them can be waived, re-signed to the practice squad, and elevated an additional three times.

Vikings To Start Nick Mullens In Week 15

December 14th, 2023 at 1:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

DECEMBER 14: Dobbs will make a Zach Wilson-like drop on the Vikings’ depth chart. After consideration, O’Connell said Hall will be Mullens’ backup against the Bengals on Saturday. Dobbs will act as Minnesota’s emergency quarterback. Hall will reclaim the QB2 job he held near the season’s midpoint, when Mullens’ IR stay moved the BYU product behind Cousins.

A third-string role is not unusual for Dobbs, who worked in this capacity in Pittsburgh for a bit. But he spent much of last season as Jacoby Brissett‘s Browns backup, finishing the year as the Titans’ emergency starter. The latter run put Dobbs in line to back up Deshaun Watson this season. After both his 2023 trades, Dobbs ended up as a starter. After eight Cardinals starts and four with the Vikes, he will take a seat for the time being. Additionally, the Vikings ruled out starting running back Alexander Mattison due to an ankle sprain.

DECEMBER 12: The Vikings, who entered this season with one of the most durable quarterbacks in NFL history, will soon match the Browns for QB1 volume. Minnesota is set to start Nick Mullens in Week 15, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero.

Mullens replaced Josh Dobbs in the Vikings’ 3-0 win over the Raiders. While Dobbs fared well when called upon shortly after the midseason trade, he has struggled in recent weeks. Mullens has been with the Vikings since the team added him just before the 2022 season.

Minnesota will go from Kirk Cousins to Jaren Hall to Dobbs to Mullens as its starting quarterbacks this season. The team turned to Dobbs initially due to a Hall concussion and Mullens residing on IR. The team activated the former 49ers UDFA from IR last month, and he will suddenly become a key factor in the NFC playoff race.

A Southern Miss product Kyle Shanahan once used as San Francisco’s primary starter after Jimmy Garoppolo‘s 2018 ACL tear, Mullens has 17 starts under his belt. He has not started a game since 2021, which came about due to both Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum residing in the COVID-19 protocol that December. Mullens, however, made eight starts in both the 2018 and ’20 seasons.

Just before waiving Kellen Mond in August 2022, the Vikings acquired Mullens from the Raiders to back up Cousins. The team re-signed the reserve arm to a two-year, $4MM deal this offseason. That AAV checked in south of many QB2 contracts this offseason, but the Vikings had not needed to worry about an injury to their starting quarterback since Sam Bradford went down in September 2017. Cousins had never missed a game due to injury in his career prior to the Achilles tear he suffered in October. With Mullens already on IR with a back injury, the team trotted out Hall. But it backstopped the fifth-round rookie with Dobbs, acquired from the Cardinals in a deadline-day pick-swap trade.

Following Dobbs’ four-INT showing in a Week 12 loss to the Bears, Kevin O’Connell said the team would revisit its QB hierarchy during the bye week. With Justin Jefferson coming back in Week 14, the Vikings chose to give Dobbs another chance. Amid the only 3-0 game played indoors in NFL history, O’Connell yanked Dobbs and called in Mullens, whose 9-for-13 showing helped the team escape Las Vegas with a game-winning field goal. The Vikings have not decided if Dobbs or Hall will be Mullens’ backup against the Bengals on Saturday, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com notes.

Mullens, 28, holds a career 65.4% completion rate. Finishing with an impressive 8.3 yards per attempt as a rookie, Mullens carries a career 7.7 mark in that category. Being at the controls for George Kittle‘s then-record season for tight end receiving yards, Mullens has thrown 27 career touchdown passes compared to 23 interceptions. The Vikings will see how viable the sixth-year vet is outside of Shanahan’s system, though O’Connell’s is also derived from the Shanahans/Gary Kubiak family. The Vikes will Mullens the keys as they attempt to either hold onto wild-card real estate or eclipse the Lions in the NFC North.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/13/23

December 13th, 2023 at 6:58pm CST by Ely Allen

Wednesday’s practice squad transactions:

Cleveland Browns

  • Signed: T Joey Fisher

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: G Henry Byrd

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Updated 2024 NFL Draft Order

December 13th, 2023 at 2:29pm CST by Sam Robinson

Two different teams have held the No. 1 overall pick in consecutive years since 2017. Amid a radical rebuild effort, the Browns carried the top pick into the 2017 and ’18 drafts. The Jaguars did the same in 2021 and ’22. It is possible the Bears will follow that up in back-to-back years. The big difference here would be the Bears traded the 2023 top choice and may unload the 2024 top pick for another windfall, depending on their evaluation of Justin Fields.

The Bears and Panthers’ March trade, giving Carolina access to Bryce Young, has become a seminal moment for both teams. As it stands now, Chicago holds two top-five picks. The Panthers are 1-12, giving the Bears a two-game lead on the Patriots and Cardinals for the top slot with four games left. Chicago finishing with the first overall selection, providing access to the quarterback of its choice, would create a big-picture decision for a Bears team that already passed on the 2023 quarterback class to stick with Fields — a QB the Ryan Poles regime did not draft. North Carolina’s Drake Maye has declared for the draft, while USC’s Caleb Williams is widely expected to follow suit.

A new Cardinals regime is also evaluating its QB, though Kyler Murray‘s $46.1MM-per-year contract (which runs through 2028) will be much harder to escape compared to Fields’. This creates an interesting scenario that will have teams who do not land two-two draft slots monitoring how Chicago and Arizona proceed. The Patriots are widely expected to pursue a quarterback in the draft, and they are likely to do so without Bill Belichick.

With gridlock forming in the AFC and NFC wild-card races, considerable movement will take place over the next month. The winner of the NFC South will likely lose several spots in the ’24 draft, as the Buccaneers did this year by winning the ’22 division title at 8-9. Here is how the draft order looks going into Week 15:

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

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/12/23

December 12th, 2023 at 8:51pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

  • Signed: TE Chris Pierce

Green Bay Packers

  • Signed: WR Thyrick Pitts
  • Released: LB Austin Ajiake

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Signed: CB Matt Hankins

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New York Jets

  • Signed: OT Obinna Eze

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Mason Crosby‘s stint with the Rams has already come to an end. The veteran kicker was added to the practice squad with Lucas Havrisik struggling, and there was speculation that the long-time Packers kicker was going to get the start when he was promoted to the active roster. Crosby ended up being inactive against the Ravens, the first time in his career that he earned that designation.

Crosby will now look to continue his career elsewhere. The Packers moved on from their all-time scoring leader following a 2022 season where Crosby connected on 86.2 percent of his field goal attempts and 37 of his 39 XP tries.

Chase Cota is the son of former NFL safety Chad Cota, and he’s also the cousin of fellow Texans practice squad safety Brady Breeze. The wide receiver spent four years at UCLA before transferring to Oregon for the 2022 campaign. He finished that season with career-highs in receptions (36), receiving yards (497), and touchdowns (three). He spent the preseason with the Lions before catching on with the Chiefs practice squad. He spent the majority of the 2023 season in Kansas City before getting cut from the taxi squad last week.

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