Jackson Carman

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/4/24

Today’s minor moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

  • Designated for return: LB Dyontae Johnson

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Spencer Shrader‘s hamstring injury will knock him out for the next four weeks, and with Harrison Butker eventually set to return, the fill-in kicker’s stint with the Chiefs has likely come to an end. Temporarily, the team will turn to their third kicker in Matthew Wright. The veteran filled in for Shrader this past weekend, connecting on four of his five field goal tries.

Former Dolphins second-round pick Cam Smith landed on IR today, likely ending his disappointing sophomore campaign. The cornerback did get more run in 2024 vs. his rookie season, but he was still limited to only 16 tackles in six games thanks to a pair of IR stints. This time, it’s a shoulder issue that will put the South Carolina product on the shelf.

Saints safety Roderic Teamer was hit with a three-game ban today for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston. Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.football notes that Teamer’s unpaid ban is “the conclusion of his DUI arrest” in 2023 (when he was with the Raiders). Teamer was limited to only a pair of appearances this season, with all of his snaps coming on special teams.

Titans lineman Jaelyn Duncan returned to practice today after missing the past six games while nursing a hamstring injury. The former sixth-round pick could actually see a significant role upon his return, with Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com noting that the second-year player could get a look at right tackle once he’s fully healthy.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/23/24

Saturday’s minor moves, including gameday elevations for Week 12:

Arizona Cardinals

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/16/24

Saturday’s minor moves, including standard gameday practice squad elevations:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Toney is set to make his debut for the regular season. The former first-round pick out of Florida has had a rocky first four years in the league, despite coming away with two Super Bowl rings in Kansas City. He was signed to the Browns’ practice squad just after the season opener and will be eligible to see game action with Cleveland in Week 11.

O’Donnell was added to the 49ers’ practice squad earlier this week given the chance of Mitch Wishnowsky missing time. The latter is now on injured reserve, ensuring at least a four-game absence. O’Donnell, 32, is a veteran of 145 games but Week 11 will mark his first regular season action since 2022.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/11/24

Here are today’s minor moves around the NFL:

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

  • Reinstated from suspension, one-game roster exemption granted: DE Mario Edwards

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Seattle Seahawks

Williams completed his three-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. He remains on injured reserve after a season-ending knee injury suffered during training camp.

Edwards served a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy and is now eligible to be reinstated to the Texans’ active roster. Houston requested and received a one-game roster exemption to give Edwards an additional week to practice with the team before being added back to the 53-man roster.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/17/24

Tuesday’s practice squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: T Marcellus Johnson
  • Released: T Ricky Lee

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Washington Commanders

Woods joins the Falcons’ practice squad after a workout last week that also included veterans Kwon Alexander and Rashaan Evans.

The Browns are adding Freeman after the seven-year veteran was released by the Cowboys before the regular season. Freeman could potentially pitch in as the team keeps working without Nick Chubb.

Yeast becomes the next former-Rams defensive back to join the Panthers. Current Carolina defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero used to serve as the secondary coach in Los Angeles, and Yeast joins Jordan Fuller, Nick Scott, and Troy Hill as former students of Evero to sign a deal with the Panthers.

Chosen’s time off the Dolphins’ practice squad could be a short one. Chosen was called up as a standard gameday elevation twice in the first two weeks of the season, reaching his limit for the year. If the team re-signs him to a new practice squad contract, his count should start over.

Reagor saw 11 games and a start last year for New England, catching seven passes for 138 yards as a deep threat. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Patriots will be giving him similar opportunities this year after this release.

Pierre played a big part in the Steelers’ secondary in 2021 and 2022, starting six games and logging an interception in each season. His role was extremely reduced last year with the arrivals of Joey Porter Jr.. and Patrick Peterson, but his experience could be crucial in a position room that only rosters five cornerbacks as Cameron Sutton remains on suspension.

Bengals Begin Roster Cutdowns

Teams have until August 27 to bring their rosters down to 53. One day after their final preseason contest, the Bengals have begun the process of releasing players, with 11 being let go on Friday.

Here is the full list of cuts:

Carman’s inclusion on the list does not come as a surprise. The 2021 second-rounder has not lived up to expectations so far, and he found himself on the roster bubble at the onset of training camp. During each of his first two seasons in the league, Carman lost a competition for a starting spot and was unable to earn the swing tackle role in 2023. Despite having one year left on his rookie contract, the Bengals will move on.

Butler, 28, entered the NFL in 2019, but his only regular season game action to date came one year later. The 6-5, 227-pounder was unable to find a regular role at the NFL level as a receiver or a tight end, but he had a successful spell in the UFL this spring. Butler was the league’s Offensive Player of the Year, fueling an attempt at returning to the NFL. That effort has obviously taken a hit with today’s move.

None of the players who have been let go are vested veterans. As a result, they will be subject to waivers several days before many other teams’ roster cuts go through the same process. Interested parties will be able to make a claim (knowing their own cut decisions are looming), but all players who clear will become free agents. That would leave the door open to a practice squad deal with Cincinnati or any other team once initial 53-man rosters are set.

Bengals OL Jackson Carman On Roster Bubble

Throughout his career, Jackson Carman has taken part in offseason position battles. The fourth-year Bengals offensive lineman has not succeeded in that regard, and entering training camp he should not be considered a roster lock.

Carman will need a strong performance this summer to avoid being cut, Jay Morrison of Pro Football Network writes. That comes as little surprise, considering how the 24-year-old’s Cincinnati tenure has gone to date. Carman lost out training camp battles for a starting guard role in each of his first two seasons in the league. He did step in as a temporary Jonah Williams left tackle replacement in 2022, but that was not followed up by a notable role the following season.

Carman was surpassed as Williams’ top competition for the starting right tackle gig last summer. The former second-rounder played just 12 offensive snaps in 2023, failing to secure the swing tackle role or a rotational spot along the interior. The team’s 2024 starting lineup along the O-line appears to be set (Orlando Brown Jr., Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa and either Trent Brown or Amarius Mims). Carman will compete for a backup interior role, Morrison notes.

The latter has one year remaining on his rookie contract, and he is set to carry a cap hit of $2.37MM in 2024. Cincinnati would save $1.68MM in cap space by cutting him, although doing so could of course result in Carman being brought back via the practice squad if he were to clear waivers. His performance over the coming weeks will be worth watching closely.

Elsewhere on the roster, Morrison notes punter Brad Robbins is in danger of losing his spot atop the depth chart. The 2023 sixth-rounder took on the role as Kevin Huber‘s successor last season, but he underwhelmed in gross (44.3) and net (40.6) average punts. Cincinnati signed Austin McNamara as a UDFA, and he finished 10th in NCAA history in average punt yardage (45.9). Robbins will therefore face a strong challenger as he and Carman look to retain their respective roster spots.

OL Notes: Vikings, Bengals, Pats, Nijman

Garrett Bradbury suffered a back injury last season, and the Vikings center saw his absence extended after he aggravated the malady in a car accident. Bradbury missed the Vikings’ final five regular-season games but returned for the team’s wild-card loss. The Vikings circled back to the former first-round pick in March, re-signing him to a three-year, $15.75MM deal. That contract becomes a pay-as-you go accord after 2023, and Bradbury has run into familiar trouble. The Vikings ruled out the fifth-year center for their Thursday-night game in Philadelphia due to a back injury.

We felt positive about him, and he’s done everything and had no issues whatsoever through a pretty physical training camp for us to feel really good about it,” Kevin O’Connell said (via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert) of Bradbury’s back issue. “It’s just how this game goes sometimes, and he’s a tough guy, big part of the interior of our offensive line and we’ll hope to get him back as soon as we can.”

Austin Schlottmann, who returned last week after a broken leg ended his 2022 season, is set to start at center against the Eagles. Here is the latest from the O-line landscape:

  • The Bengals completed an unexpected transaction this week, releasing La’el Collins from the reserve/PUP list. The team had given Collins a three-year, $21MM deal to step in at right tackle, which he did for 15 games. But ACL and MCL tears ended his 2022 season in Week 16 and prevented him from starting this season on time. The Bengals have Jonah Williams at right tackle opposite big-ticket UFA addition Orlando Brown Jr., but Jackson Carman — who replaced Williams at LT in the playoffs last season — is not the top backup any longer. D’Ante Smith, a 2021 fourth-round pick, is positioned as Cincinnati’s swing tackle now, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic notes (subscription required). Carman has started two playoff games but lost three position battles in his three training camps. Viewed as a project coming out of East Carolina, Smith has played 56 career offensive snaps.
  • Reliability questions surrounded the Patriots‘ offensive line, and the team responded accordingly when setting its 53-man roster. Before Riley Reiff ended up on IR, the Patriots submitted an initial 53 with 11 O-linemen. No other team’s first 53 included that many, as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com observes. Only seven teams kept 10 blockers, though that is where New England’s contingent stands after the Reiff move. The Pats needed to use this depth early. Calvin Anderson, who came off the Pats’ reserve/non-football illness list late in the preseason, started at right tackle in Week 1. Guards Cole Strange and Michael Onwenu were out, moving fourth- and fifth-round rookies — Sidy Sow, Atonio Mafi — into the lineup. Onwenu and Strange have each logged two limited practices this week, though both Sow and left tackle Trent Brown suffered concussions in the opener, leaving their Week 2 statuses in doubt.
  • The Commanders, Packers and Vikings each restructured an O-line deal recently. Washington created $6MM in cap space by moving $7.5MM of Charles Leno‘s base salary into a signing bonus and adding three void years, per the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala. Green Bay topped that by adding four void years to Yosh Nijman‘s deal, creating $2.54MM in cap space, ESPN’s Field Yates tweets. This proves interesting due to Nijman being on a second-round RFA tender; he is due to be a 2024 free agent. Minnesota added $9.99MM in space by restructuring Brian O’Neill‘s contract, per Yates.

Latest On Bengals’ Right Tackle Situation

The Bengals’ Orlando Brown Jr. signing created a crowded situation at right tackle, seeing three-year left tackle starter Jonah Williams begrudgingly change positions. But the former first-round pick is settling in at his new spot.

Williams rescinded his trade request earlier this summer, and Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic notes he is the clear leader in this tackle matchup. The top Williams competitor coming into camp, Jackson Carman, no longer appears a serious threat to start opposite Brown. Carman may now be battling for a roster spot (subscription required).

Although Carman lost two guard battles in his first two training camps, he fared better as Williams’ left tackle replacement in the playoffs. The former second-round pick replaced Williams against the Ravens in the wild-card round, after the starter suffered a dislocated left knee, and started against the Bills and Chiefs. But Carman may no longer be competing with Williams for the starting RT role; Dehner adds fellow 2021 draftee D’Ante Smith is pushing Carman for the swing role.

Smith has seen time at right tackle recently, moving over from the second-string left tackle role he had held earlier. With Williams in place as the top Brown replacement option, as the Bengals would slide him back to his old spot and move their swingman to right tackle, Dehner notes the RT2 role represents the Bengals’ top tackle backup. Viewed as a project upon coming into the league as a fourth-rounder out of East Carolina, Smith has played just 56 career offensive snaps.

Cincinnati’s right tackle situation will become more complicated when La’el Collins comes off the active/PUP list. Rehabbing ACL and MCL tears, Collins is a candidate for the reserve/PUP list but may also be a cap casualty. Given Collins’ experience, he would stand to generate interest from tackle-needy teams if released. Collins, 30, has not returned to practice. The Bengals were also not exactly thrilled with his pre-injury work.

As for Williams, he can create a nice free agent market with a good contract year. The 2019 first-round pick last played right tackle as a freshman at Alabama. Pro Football Focus graded Williams outside the top 60 at tackle last season, but the veteran blocker attributed his shakier form to not being 100% after a Week 5 kneecap subluxation. The Bengals and Jaguars discussed Williams before the draft, but Jacksonville took Anton Harrison in Round 1. No trade rumblings regarding Williams have come out since.

He looks like he’s been there for a few years,” Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack said, via Dehner, of Williams. “I’m impressed. He’s a good player. He’s athletic, he’s a smart player and he’s just grooving that power hand and that power foot, and my hat’s off to him. It’s really been a lot more seamless and smooth than I would anticipate for any guy.”

While Williams is going into a contract year, two seasons remain on Carman and Smith’s rookie deals. Collins is under contract through 2024 as well, though the Bengals would take on just $1.7MM in dead money by releasing him before September’s vested veteran guarantee date.

Latest On Bengals, Jonah Williams

The Bengals did not draft an offensive lineman, but the two-time reigning AFC North champions still have a potential three-man race for their right tackle position brewing.

Jonah Williams remains part of that equation, albeit reluctantly. The three-year Cincinnati left tackle starter — forced into a position change after the team’s Orlando Brown Jr. signing — remains with the team, and ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes no substantive trade talks around the fifth-year blocker transpired during the draft. As a result, Williams is expected to remain with the Bengals in his contract year.

Williams’ trade request surfaced shortly after the Brown signing, and the former first-round pick is believed to have been blindsided (no pun intended) by the Brown addition. The former Alabama blocker did not show for the start of Bengals voluntary workouts and cannot be fined for his absence until the team’s minicamp. With the 2020 CBA making training camp fines steep enough it has largely curtailed holdouts, Williams — assuming he is still on the Bengals’ roster by that point — should be expected to rejoin his teammates.

La’el Collins remains rostered as well, but the longtime Cowboys starter-turned-Bengals signing is coming off December ACL and MCL tears. No firm return timetable is known. Zac Taylor also said (via The Athletic’s Jay Morrison) former second-round pick Jackson Carman, who replaced Williams at left tackle when the latter suffered a dislocated kneecap during the playoffs, will be part of the right tackle competition. Carman struggled at guard, seeing Cordell Volson usurp him quickly, but Taylor including him in the tackle competition points to either Collins or Williams not being in the picture.

Collins’ three-year, $21MM contract runs through 2024, though his injury trouble and issues in pass protection last season led to the Bengals pursuing tackles in free agency. They had not expected to land Brown, but after the two-year Chiefs blindsider’s reps contacted the Bengals, talks progressed quickly. Williams, who has not played right tackle since his freshman year at Alabama, has one season — a fifth-year option, at $12.6MM — remaining on his deal. The Bengals viewed a post-Round 1 tackle addition as one that would only further cloud their already-complicated right tackle mix, Morrison adds (subscription required).

Five teams took first-round tackles, further limiting Williams’ market. The Jets still come to mind as a possible suitor, seeing as they were widely rumored to be eyeing Broderick Jones — before the Steelers moved ahead of them for the Georgia tackle — and have an unsteady setup at left tackle. New York rosters the league’s oldest tackle — in Duane Brown, who is coming off surgery — and has seen knee injuries sideline Mekhi Becton for all but one game since his rookie year. The Buccaneers, who cut Donovan Smith in March, could also be interested. They are not yet certain to move All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs to the left side.

Right tackle-needy teams will likely be monitoring Collins as well. For now, however, Williams and Collins remain on Cincy’s roster ahead of what would be one of this year’s most interesting position battles.