Elijah Cooks

Eagles Place Nakobe Dean On IR, Bring Back Nicholas Morrow

A few teams have turned to Nicholas Morrow as a regular starter, but the veteran linebacker has been unable to secure much in the way of financial commitments in free agency. He has spent most of this season with the Bills as a backup, before being waived earlier this month.

Nakobe Dean‘s season-ending injury will earn Morrow another opportunity, marking a familiar development. The Eagles are bringing Morrow back, per NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo. Dean 2023 injuries kept Morrow with a regular role in Philly, and the team will turn to familiarity late in the season. This is a practice squad deal.

The Eagles placed Dean on IR after he suffered a torn patellar tendon during the Packers game; that malady may well lead to Dean missing time to start the 2025 season. Dean battled multiple foot ailments in 2023, leading to two IR stints and only five games played. After the Eagles stashed Dean as a backup during their NFC championship season in 2022, injuries are otherwise defining the former third-rounder’s rookie contract. Dean finishes this season with 128 tackles and three sacks; Pro Football Focus ranked him 12th among off-ball linebackers.

Dean has not been the Eagles’ top LB success story this year; that honor goes to Zack Baun, who morphed from a player who researched recent special teams contracts (via Yahoo.com’s Jori Epstein) into a first-team All-Pro. The Eagles initially viewed Baun as a rotational edge rusher, per ESPN.com’s Tim McManus, but he has boosted his value tremendously as a traditional off-ball LB this season. The former Saints third-rounder will be counted on as the Eagles attempt to book a second Super Bowl berth in three seasons.

Morrow initially caught on with the Eagles after a full-season run as a Bears starter, but that season only fetched a one-year, $1.2MM deal. Philly had viewed Morrow as a potential starter heading into their 2023 camp but then cut him weeks later. Morrow resurfaced on Philly’s P-squad that September and became Dean’s primary replacement soon after. Last season, Morrow started 12 games and made 95 tackles — a career-high 12 for loss — but the Eagles changed up at linebacker this past offseason to lead him to Buffalo. The Division III success story, who has made 58 career starts, played in 11 Bills games as a backup.

The Eagles also moved Parris Campbell back to their 53-man roster to take Dean’s place and added wide receiver Elijah Cooks to their practice squad. The team released wideout Joseph Ngata from its taxi squad.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/30/24

Saturday’s minor moves and standard gameday practice squad elevations:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo is listed as questionable, but head coach Raheem Morris is confident he’ll play, calling Patterson an emergency option.

Speculation out of Baltimore was that Maulet wouldn’t require a second stint on injured reserve with his calf injury, but that intel appears to have been off. Maulet and Kolar could potentially make a return in time for the postseason, but they’ll miss four games before they do.

VanSumeren served double-duty as a fullback and linebacker. With his placement on IR, Uzomah was targeted as a possibility to fill in at fullback.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/2/24

Today’s minor NFL moves including standard gameday practice squad elevations for Sunday’s slate of games:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Wednesday NFL Transactions: AFC South

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These ColtsJaguars, Texans and Titans moves are noted below.

Houston Texans

Signed:

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

Reverted to IR:

Indianapolis Colts

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Jacksonville Jaguars

Signed:

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

Tennessee Titans

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Jaguars Finalize 53-Man Roster

The Jaguars have unveiled their list of cuts and other roster moves which will bring the team to the 53-man limit ahead of today’s deadline. Here is the full breakdown:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Beathard’s inclusion in Jacksonville’s cuts comes after he suffered a groin injury in the team’s second preseason contest. He was unable to suit up for the Jaguars’ exhibition finale, and today’s move clears the way for Mac Jones to take on backup duties. The former Patriots first-rounder was dealt to his hometown team this offseason, but a competition had been ongoing between he and Beathard. Now, Jones will move forward as QB2 behind Trevor Lawrence.

Beathard will be free to sign with a new team, although he is of course unlikely to find a suitor until he returns to full health. Other veterans like Amos and Edmunds joined Jacksonville this offseason, but they too will now have to search for a new opportunity. Several of the players waived will likely find themselves on the practice squad shortly, but Perry not doing so could leave the Jags in need of QB depth especially if Beathard were to land with a new team.

In 2024, teams are allowed to designate two players to return from injured reserve without naming them to the initial 53-man roster. That is the case for both Robinson and Wingard. The former was selected in the fifth round of this year’s draft and will provide backfield depth when healthy, while the latter is recovering from a knee injury. Both Robinson and Wingard will miss at least the first four weeks of the campaign, and their activations will count toward Jacksonville’s limit of eight for the season.

Jaguars Sign 11 UDFAs

Jacksonville announced their class of undrafted rookie free agents on Monday. Here is a breakdown of the prospects who will compete to fill out their roster this summer:

Jacksonville had 13 picks in this year’s draft in addition to the above names, so they will have plenty of rookies on hand to add to last year’s successful team. The group includes a number of intriguing names, though no reports have emerged yet with respect to sizeable guarantees in any of their respective contracts.

Ademilola and Coleman are heading into the NFL after very different college journeys, but they each posted notable production. The former totaled seven sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss over the past two seasons, and could find a role for himself as a rotational pass-rusher on the interior after a lengthy career with the Fighting Irish. The latter only played at Ole Miss for one season, but he recorded 4.5 sacks, 8.5 TFLs and three forced fumbles in that time, which could help earn him an extended look.

Of the three receivers signed, Cooks is the largest (6-4, 215 pounds) and most productive of the bunch in terms of 2022 statistics. After five years at Nevada, he transferred to San Jose State and had a career-year. Cooks totaled 1,076 yards on 69 receptions, and led the Mountain West Conference with 10 touchdowns. Those figures far outpaced what he had in all but one of his previous seasons, and could point to potential at the NFL level as a depth option.