HEADLINES

Luiji Vilain

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/8/24

October 8th, 2024 at 9:21pm CST by Adam La Rose

Tuesday’s taxi squad moves:

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: OL Matthew Cindric

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Indianapolis Colts

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Fleming saw time with Denver across each of the past three seasons. The 32-year-old alternated between right and left tackle during that span, and he remained on the team’s radar given his workout in September. Now Fleming, a veteran of 117 games and 62 starts, will be an option to handle a depth role along the O-line once he is elevated to the Broncos’ active roster.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/25/24

September 25th, 2024 at 6:10pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR John Jiles

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

  • Signed: DT Shakel Brown

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Trenton Gill has caught on with the Buccaneers practice squad after getting cut by the Broncos back in August. Gill spent the previous two seasons as the Bears full-time punter, with the 25-year-old averaging 46 yards per punt while landing 28.6 percent of his punts inside the 20. As Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times notes, this addition is a sign that Bucs punter Jake Camarda may be on the hot seat. The former fourth-round pick is averaging a career-low 39.8 net yards per punt.

Panthers Set Initial Roster

August 27th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Panthers made a number of moves on Tuesday to get their roster down to 53. Carolina moved rookie running back Jonathon Brooks to the reserve/NFI list, likewise sidelining edge rushers D.J. Wonnum and Amare Barno for the start of the year via a reserve/PUP designation. Carolina also moved on from wideout Terrace Marshall after failing to find a trade partner. Cornerback Dane Jackson and safety Sam Franklin will begin the year on injured reserve, but they have been designated for return and will not count on the opening 53-man roster.

Here are the team’s other moves ahead of the cutdown deadline:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Ford signed as a free agent earlier this month, giving the Panthers another option at the safety position. That spot has seen considerable turnover this offseason, and Ford could find himself being brought back on a practice squad deal. Failing that, the veteran of 86 games and 21 starts will aim to land a gig with a new team ahead of Week 1.

Choosing to move on from four tight ends is a strong sign of confidence in the trio still on the 53-man roster, a group which includes two recent draft additions. Ja’Tavion Sanders (fourth round, 2024) and Tommy Tremble (third round, 2021) will be joined by veteran Ian Thomas at the position this season, the first with Dave Canales in place as head coach.

While Jackson and Franklin are eligible to be activated beginning in Week 5, Davis and Gill are not. They will be sidelined for the entire 2024 campaign as a result of today’s decision. Bother players are pending free agents, and their respective injuries will of course hinder their market value next spring.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/7/23

November 7th, 2023 at 8:35pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are Tuesday’s minor transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Rams

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Price finds his way to injured reserve with an undisclosed injury in order to make room for quarterback Kyler Murray, who was activated from IR this afternoon. Price spent time on IR last year with a knee injury before missing the first five games of this season, as well.

Vilain and Wooten join eight other defenders on IR as Carolina continues to deal with injury issues on that side of the ball. They recently added veteran pass rusher Justin Houston to the injured list but may soon get back linebacker Marquis Haynes after opening his 21-day practice window yesterday.

Panthers Place S Jeremy Chinn, OLB Yetur Gross-Matos On IR, Activate G Austin Corbett

October 24th, 2023 at 4:27pm CST by Adam La Rose

Coming out of their bye week, the Panthers have made a number of injury-related moves. The team announced on Tuesday that safety Jeremy Chinn and pass rusher Yetur Gross-Matos have been placed on injured reserve. The same is true of tight end/special teamer Giovanni Ricci.

As a result of the move, all three players will be forced to miss at least four weeks. In Chinn’s case, a quadriceps injury is expected to keep him sidelined for longer than that, so today’s move comes as no surprise. The 25-year-old is in the final year of his contract, but the injury likely took him off the board with respect to trade interest from outside teams.

Gross-Matos is dealing with a hamstring injury which has been deemed serious enough to interrupt an encouraging season. The former second-rounder has posted 2.5 sacks through six games, only one short of matching his career high. He has added three tackles for loss and six quarterback pressures despite seeing a drop in playing time compared to last year. Starters Brian Burns and Justin Houston will be counted on more heavily in the edge department given Gross-Matos’ absence. Ricci has a shoulder injury, per ESPN’s David Newton.

In more positive news, the Panthers activated guard Austin Corbett from the PUP list. This marked the final week of his 21-day return window, so today’s move was needed to avoid having him revert to season-ending IR. The 28-year-old suffered an ACL tear in Week 18 last year, and has been rehabbing ever since. His return will be welcomed on an offensive line which has used three different starters at both left and right guard this season. Corbett indicated (via Newton) that he may not suit up for Week 8 despite being brought back onto the roster. That move will did use up any of Carolina’s seven remaining IR activations, but bringing back Chinn, Gross-Matos and Ricci will.

To fill the other roster spots opened up by the IR moves, the Panthers have signed edge rusher Luiji Vilain off the Vikings’ practice squad. The 25-year-old Canadian has made four regular season appearances since signing in Minnesota as a UDFA. Likewise, Carolina has added offensive lineman Brett Toth from the Eagles’ taxi squad. The latter has made one start across his 17 total games played, all with Philadelphia.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/23/23

October 23rd, 2023 at 7:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

  • Signed off Panthers’ practice squad: RB Jashaun Corbin

San Francisco 49ers

This marks a New York return for Corbin, who went to training camp with the Giants. A UDFA out of Florida State, Corbin signed a reserve/futures contract with the Giants in January but did not make their 53-man roster. The Panthers had kept Corbin on their practice squad since early September. Rather than promote Corbin to their 53-man roster to block this New York return, Carolina will let him join the Giants’ 53. Corbin joins Saquon Barkley, Gary Brightwell and fifth-round rookie Eric Gray as running backs on Big Blue’s 53-man roster. Both Brightwell (hamstring) and Gray (calf) suffered injuries in Week 7, creating a need at the position.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC North

August 30th, 2023 at 2:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

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 Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings moves are noted below.

Chicago Bears

Placed on IR:

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Detroit Lions

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Green Bay Packers

Claimed:

Released:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Minnesota Vikings

Placed on IR:

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Vikings Make Cuts To Reach 53-Man Roster

August 29th, 2023 at 8:25pm CST by Ely Allen

Most of the Vikings’ roster moves were done ahead of the deadline, but today they did the rest of the work to get down to the 53-man roster. Here are the moves made today to reach the deadline:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

  • LB Abraham Beauplan

Released:

A strong preseason performance by backup running back Ty Chandler and the returning prowess of Kene Nwangwu led to the disappointing cut of the seventh-round pick McBride. Besides that, there weren’t many surprises on the offensive side of the ball as the Vikings continually value consistency on the offensive line.

Minnesota needed to work out how to replace the production lost in the departure of pass rusher Za’Darius Smith. The opportunity led to a nice surprise as undrafted rookie Andre Carter II makes the initial 53. Carter is joined on the defensive side by undrafted linebacker Ivan Pace, who got plenty of run in camp as Brian Asamoah recovered from injury. Safety NaJee Thompson is the last undrafted rookie to find his way onto the roster thanks to his contributions on special teams.

Vikings Add Nine UDFAs

May 16th, 2022 at 8:04pm CST by Ben Levine

After adding 10 rookies via the draft, the Vikings have added nine more through free agency. The organization announced the signing of nine undrafted free agents:

The Vikings were apparently eager to add a pair of defenders. According to Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com (on Twitter), McCloud will earn $250K in guaranteed money, including a $225K base salary. The Miami Hurricanes standout finished his collegiate career with 7.5 tackles for loss and five sacks, increasing his career numbers to 22.5 TFLs and 10 sacks.

Per PFF’s Doug Kyed on Twitter, the Vikings also gave Vilain $227K in guaranteed money. The linebacker had a breakout campaign after transferring from Michigan to Wake Forest, finishing the 2021 season with eight sacks and nine tackles for loss.