We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Carolina Panthers
New York Jets
Oakland Raiders
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin left Sunday’s victory over Detroit due to a hamstring injury, and since Tampa Bay is out of playoff contention, Godwin’s breakout 2019 campaign may end prematurely. Curiously, fellow wideout Mike Evans has already been placed on IR with a hamstring ailment, and yet another receiver, Scott Miller, also left the Lions game due to a hamstring issue.
That has led some to question the way in which head coach Bruce Arians is running things, and as Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times writes, Arians has conceded that he may be overworking his receivers. “We’ll be talking with our sports science people about it,” Arians said. “Maybe I’ve overworked them in practice, the receivers, because we need the reps. Our quarterbacks need the reps, so we run them this time of the year more than I would probably like to, but we need the reps.” The hamstring injuries may all just be a coincidence, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the team’s new sports science department moving forward.
Jenna Laine of ESPN.com says Arians has already ruled Godwin out for Week 16 but hopes he will play in the 2019 finale.
Now for more from the league’s south divisions:
D.J. Swearinger will march with the Saints. On Wednesday, the Saints officially signed the veteran and made room by dropping fellow safety T.J. Green. 
Swearinger becomes the second defensive back to join the Saints this week, following former Giants standout Janoris Jenkins. For the 28-year-old, it’s his third team of 2019.
Swearinger started the year with the Cardinals, but was dropped in late September. He hooked on with the Raiders in early November, but was jettisoned earlier this month along with Preston Brown and Terrell McClain. All in all, he has 48 tackles across eight games this season.
Green was promoted to the active roster just before the Saints Monday night win over the Colts. If he clears waivers, the Saints will be able to re-sign him to the practice squad.
The Chiefs claimed former Cardinals linebacker Terrell Suggs off waivers on Tuesday. The news was first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Initially, it wasn’t clear whether Suggs would be willing to suit up for the Chiefs. After his release, he told people close to him that he would only play for the Ravens, but the opportunity to play for another Super Bowl ring made him reconsider. He will join KC and, in all likelihood, make his Chiefs debut on Sunday against the Bears.
The pickup gives the Chiefs some much needed edge rushing ammo in the wake of Alex Okafor‘s pectoral injury. To date, Suggs has with 5.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in 13 games this year.
Suggs was a popular man on the waiver wire. As Rapoport tweets, the Saints, 49ers, and Seahawks all put in a claim, which makes sense given that all of those teams are dealing with injuries to their own pass rushers. Rapoport says the Ravens may have signed Suggs if he had cleared waivers, but Baltimore did not put in a claim.
Suggs didn’t get the homecoming he wanted, but he fell into a choice situation. Rather than playing out the year for the 4-9-1 Cards, he has the opportunity to aid the 10-4 Chiefs in their quest for a championship.
Suggs was drafted No. 10 overall by the Ravens all the way back in 2003. He spent the next 16 seasons with the team and became a franchise icon, winning Super Bowl XLVII with them and making the Pro Bowl seven times. He remained reasonably productive with seven sacks in 2018, but the Ravens let him walk to Arizona in the spring.
The Chiefs will be responsible for the remainder of Suggs’ one-year, $7MM deal.
Former Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins has been claimed off waivers by the Saints. With that, they’ll take on one of the league’s top cornerback talents, the ~$1.2MM still owed to the veteran for 2019, and, perhaps, some backlash.
[RELATED: Cowboys Deny Reaching Out To Sean Payton]
The Giants cut Jenkins last week after he used a slur for the mentally challenged and issued an apology that fell short with many. Controversy aside, he represents an enormous upgrade in the secondary – the kind of addition that is rarely, if ever, found in the late states of the regular season.
Jenkins will not be eligible to play tonight, when the Saints take on the Colts. Instead, the claim will be deferred, technically speaking, until next week, when the Saints take on the Titans.
The Saints are looking to Jenkins for coverage help as they gear up for a Super Bowl run and an attempt to lock down a first-round bye. His former team, meanwhile, is ticketed for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft.
Jenkins is also under contract for 2020, though the $11.25MM he’s slated to earn next year is completely non-guaranteed. With that in mind, this profiles as a low-risk/high-reward scenario for the Saints.
The Texans and Chiefs were named as potential landing spots for the 31-year-old, but the Saints came away with the one-time Pro Bowler. Jackrabbit will now look to add on to his 84 tackles and four interceptions (already a career high) in 2019.
In addition to the Jenkins claim, the Saints promoted CB T.J. Green and DT Taylor Stallworth from the practice squad, placed CB Johnson Bademosi on IR, and waived DT T.Y. McGill.
The Cowboys have long been connected to Saints head coach Sean Payton and those rumblings have picked up once again this season, along with speculation about Jason Garrett‘s job security. A recent report indicated that the Cowboys expressed interest in Payton through backchannels last offseason, but VP Stephen Jones flatly denied that in an interview on Monday. 
“That’s just untrue,” Jones said. “Obviously we don’t comment on rumors like that. Obviously our focus right now is beating the Eagles. Certainly, everyone knows what we think of Jason. I do think we’ve been criticized to a fault for what we do think of him. He just did a great job getting this team back on track yesterday and we’re focused on beating the Eagles.”
The Cowboys kept their playoff hopes alive with an emphatic 44-21 win over the Rams, bringing them back to the .500 mark. With a win over the Eagles on Sunday, the Cowboys can clinch the NFC East and punch their ticket to the postseason. A loss, meanwhile, would put them on the ropes and place the Eagles in the driver’s seat – an Eagles win on Sunday coupled with a Week 17 victory over the lowly Giants would allow the bird to fly away with the divisional crown.
Sunday’s game will be critical to the Cowboys’ 2019 season and could dictate the future of Garrett. While the Cowboys sweat things out, Payton’s Saints will march their way into the playoffs behind yet another NFC South title – and, possibly, a first round bye.
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Cincinnati Bengals
Miami Dolphins
New Orleans Saints
The season-ending injuries to Sheldon Rankins and Marcus Davenport have prompted the Saints to call for backup. On Thursday, the Saints signed defensive tackle T.Y. McGill to the 53-man roster.
[RELATED: Saints Place Sheldon Rankins On IR]
McGill joins defensive end Noah Spence on the depth chart, giving New Orleans some new bodies to help fill in. Getting by without Rankins will be especially tough for the Saints as they look to grab one of the NFC’s top two seeds. Rankins broke out last year with eight sacks, before suffering a torn Achilles in the divisional round of last year’s playoffs, and the Saints were counting on him to pressure opposing QBs in this year’s playoffs.
McGill appeared in three games for the Chargers earlier this year, but was handed his pink slip when safeties Derwin James and Adrian Phillips returned to the active roster.
He’ll look to make his Saints debut on Sunday in New Orleans against the Colts. After that, the 10-3 Saints will round out the regular season with games against the Titans and Panthers.
After learning yesterday that defensive lineman Marcus Davenport would be undergoing season-ending surgery, the Saints have been dealt another blow. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins has a significant ankle injury that will knock him out for the rest of the season (Twitter link). New Orleans placed Rankins on IR and signed defensive tackle T.Y. McGill, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Rankins left the Saints’ difficult loss to the 49ers on Sunday with the injury, and his absence will be missed as the club tries to climb back into one of the NFC’s top two seeds. The 2016 first-rounder is unfortunately no stranger to the training room, as he has also suffered a broken fibula and a torn Achilles in his young career. He played a full 16-game slate in the 2017-18 seasons, and in 2018, he broke out with eight sacks. But he tore his Achilles in the divisional round of last year’s playoffs, and he did not return to the field until Week 4 of the 2019 campaign.
Luckily for the Saints, the defensive front is perhaps their deepest positional group. But given that linebackers A.J. Klein and Kiko Alonso also dealing with injuries, the front seven as a whole has suddenly become something of a question mark.
The Saints have lost Marcus Davenport for the season, and they may have lost Sheldon Rankins for the year as well. In an effort to bolster their thinning front seven, the team has signed Noah Spence, per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network (via Twitter).
The Buccaneers selected Spence in the second round of the 2016 draft, but he did not live up to his draft status. He did put up 5.5 sacks in his rookie campaign, but his sophomore season was largely lost to injury and he didn’t really produce in 12 games in 2018. Tellingly, Tampa Bay waived him prior to the start of the 2019 regular season.
Spence worked out for the Bears and Redskins after being cut by the Bucs, and he ultimately signed with Washington in September. However, he lasted just two months on the Redskins’ roster before being waived again. He picked up one sack in a limited role for Washington.
But with Davenport gone, New Orleans could use some pass rushing depth. Spence still provides some upside in that regard, so it’s a logical move for the Saints.