Juston Burris

NFL Front Office Rumors: Bears, Panthers, Falcons, Titans, Cowboys

A number of teams have made some recent adjustments to their front office staff. The Bears are one of those teams, making adjustments to both their scouting and analytics staffs, according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN.

On the scouting side, Chicago named Drew Raucina as an area scout and Ryan Weese as a combine scout. Raucina was previously the team’s combine scout. He’s been with the Bears since 2018, starting as a scouting assistant and working his way up. Weese moves into the newly open combine scout role after joining the staff last year as a scouting assistant. Before coming to Chicago, Weese held a role at Montana State.

In analytics, the Bears announced Ryan Hubley as a football research analyst. Hubley joined the team last year as a football systems developer working under director of football analytics Krithi Chandrakasan. It sounds like he’ll remain in that department in an adjusted role.

Here are a few other front office changes from around the league:

  • The Panthers are another one of the above-mentioned teams, making several adjustments to their scouting staff, according to Panthers staff writer Darin Gantt. After coming to Carolina two years ago from Washington as the new director of college scouting, Cole Spencer has been promoted to director of player personnel, where he’ll work alongside recently hired vice president of player personnel Adrian Wilson, who will focus on pro scouting while Spencer retains his focus on college scouting. Former assistant director of college scouting Jared Kirksey will fill Spencer’s old role as college scouting director. Kirksey joined the team in 2021 as an area scout. Formerly the Southwest scout, Eli Montague will now cover the Southeast area, with Corey Fuller moving from the West area to cover the Southwest. Scouting intern Caden McCloughan and scouting assistant Jordan Trgovac have been promoted to area scouts, and former safety Juston Burris will be a scouting intern for the team this year. McCloughan will cover the West and Trgovac the Mid-Atlantic.
  • Two Falcons scouts will be changing roles this year, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. Former player personnel coordinator Rushell Harvey will now serve as the team’s Northeast area scout. Additionally, Ben Martinez, who has worked as a scout for the BLESTO service, will now be a pro scout for Atlanta. Both joined the Falcons in 2021. Lastly, Stratton also informs us that the team has parted ways with Peniel Jean, Atlanta’s former pro scout. Jean joined the team in 2017 and had served his most recent role for four years.
  • The Titans will have a new name atop their analytics department after hiring Sarah Bailey as director of football research and development. Bailey comes over from Los Angeles, where she started in 2017 as a football analyst for the Rams before being promoted to manager – football analytics in 2020.
  • Lastly, the Cowboys have added a new name to their front office, as well. After serving as director of football research for the Colts since 2016, John Park heads to Dallas to serve as director of strategic football operations, according to ESPN’s Seth Walder.

Panthers Place S Jeremy Chinn On IR

The Panthers have lost one of their top defenders for at least the next four weeks. The team announced that safety Jeremy Chinn has landed on injured reserve. Veteran Juston Burris was signed off the practice squad to take the open roster spot.

Chinn led all rookies with 117 tackles in 2020, and he ended up finishing second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. He followed that up with 107 tackles during his sophomore campaign, making him only the third player in franchise history to top 100 tackles in each of their first two seasons (along with Luke Kuechly and Jon Beason).

The 24-year-old started each of Carolina’s first four games this season, collecting 20 tackles and one sack. Pro Football Focus also graded him as one of the NFL’s best pass-rushing safeties this year. He appeared in only six snaps on Sunday before exiting the contest with a hamstring injury.

Chinn’s versatility will be hard to replace; besides safety, he’s also lined up at safety, linebacker, and in the slot this season. However, Burris at least provides six years of NFL experience, and the veteran even started 20 games for the Panthers over the past two years. He re-signed with the organization this offseason but was cut at the end of the preseason. He subsequently landed on the Panthers practice squad.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC 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 BuccaneersFalcons, Panthers and Saints moves are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Atlanta Falcons

Claimed:

Released:

Signed to practice squad:

Carolina Panthers

Signed to practice squad:

New Orleans Saints

Claimed:

  • T Tanner Owen (from Bills)

Released:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Signed to practice squad:

Panthers Trim Roster To 53 Players

The Panthers trimmed their roster to 53 players today, meaning a long list of players earned their walking papers:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on IR:

The most notable move was kicker Zane Gonzalez landing on injured reserve, making him ineligible to return for the 2022 campaign. Gonzalez injury himself on Friday night while warming up on the sideline. It was later revealed that he suffered a significant groin injury, and that injury ended up being season-ending. The Panthers worked out five potential replacements yesterday.

Juston Burris started 20 of his 23 games for the Panthers over the past two seasons. After collecting a career-high 53 tackles in 2020, the safety finished with only 23 tackles this past year, with Pro Football Focus ranking him 77th among 92 qualifying safeties. He was on the roster bubble following the offseason pickup of Xavier Woods. Brandon Zylstra has seen time in 37 games for the Panthers over the past three years, hauling in 29 receptions for 391 yards and one touchdown. Yesterday’s trade for Laviska Shenault Jr. only pushed him further down the depth chart, leading to his release.

Panthers Re-Sign S Juston Burris

The Panthers are bringing back Juston Burris. Carolina is re-signing the safety to a one-year deal, according to ESPN’s David Newton (on Twitter).

Following a 2019 season where he started a career-high nine games with Cleveland, Burris inked a two-year, $8MM deal with the Panthers. He started 12 of his 13 games in 2020, collecting 53 tackles, four passes defended, and one interception.

He entered the 2021 campaign as the starting safety, but he missed almost two months of the season while sitting on injured reserve. Burris finished the season having started eight of his 10 games, finishing with 23 tackles and one interception. He saw time in about two thirds of his team’s defensive snaps.

The former fourth-round pick spent the first two-plus seasons of his career with the Jets. He’s also had stints with the Raiders and Browns (two stints).

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/13/21

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

  • Activated from PUP list: DT Trysten Hill
  • Promoted: K Lirim Hajrullahu

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFL Minor Transactions: 10/27/21

All of today’s minor transactions in one place:

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Panthers Place Juston Burris On IR

The Panthers have placed Juston Burris on IR with a groin injury, per a club announcement. Fortunately, it sounds like this will be a short-term injured reserve stint, so the safety can return after a minimum of three games.

Burris suffered the injury during last Thursday’s win over the Texans. Before that, he tallied two stops, giving him ten for the season. And, in Week 2 against the Saints, he nabbed an interception, giving him six for his career.

The Panthers can turn to Sam Franklin and Sean Chandler in his absence, but it’s yet another blow to their banged up secondary. They’re already without rookie cornerback Jaycee Horn, who will be out for at least a couple of months with a broken foot. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, the Panthers are keeping their fingers crossed for Christian McCaffrey and his ailing hamstring.

In a related move, the Panthers have added Sam Tecklenburg to the 53-man roster. He’ll be eligible to play on Sunday when the 3-0 Panthers face the Cowboys.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/14/20

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team 

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/20/20

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Green Bay Packers

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Waived: WR John Hurst

Tennessee Titans