T.J. Carter

Cardinals Get Down To 53

The Cardinals finalized their initial 53-man roster with the following moves:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Placed on IR:

Placed on IR (designated for return):

We’ve already reported on the most notable name, Ridder. The Cardinals instead opted to rely on second-year passer Clayton Tune to back up Kyler Murray behind center. There’s still a chance Ridder could remain on the practice squad as QB3.

Robinson and Jones will miss the first four games of the season, but both have been designated to return from IR eventually. Jones Jr. will miss the 2024 season, though.

Two rookie draft picks failed to make the 53-man. Alabama Birmingham receiver Palmer (sixth-round) and Miami (FL) cornerback Davis (seventh-round) both hit the waiver wire following the preseason. Undrafted receiver Xavier Weaver out of Colorado, does make the roster, though.

Other surprises were the cutting of Carter and Barnes. Carter struggled last year before parting ways with the Jets, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2021. Six games in Arizona last year were not enough to warrant a return in 2024 on the active roster. Carter had been shopped around a bit as of late, but with no buyers, he hits the waiver wire. Barnes started six games for the team last year after three years in Green Bay, where he started 24 games.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/20/24

Here are today’s minor transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

  • Reverted to IR: LB Zeke Vandenburgh

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Free Agent

Strong was a surprising release by the Cardinals during the regular season last year. At the time, Strong was coming off of his strongest NFL campaign, but head coach Jonathan Gannon claimed that the release was what was “best for the team.” While we still don’t know the nature of the suspension, or whether or not it’s even related to his January release, we are aware that he will miss three games.

Rams Cut Down To 53 Players

The Rams did a bit of work yesterday in moving towards the 53-man deadline. Here are the additional moves the team made today to get down to the max roster number to start the season:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Released:

It appears that fourth-round rookie draft pick Stetson Bennett won out in the battle for the backup quarterback job, leading to the expendability of Rypien and Winn. Youth similarly won out at the running back spot as rookie Zach Evans and second year backs Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers beat out the veteran backup in Freeman. On defense, Copeland is bit of a surprise after starting nine games last year for the Rams.

The special teams room is quite intriguing for now. The room was looking to hold three rookies before the above waiver of the undrafted Oklahoma State kicker Brown. Seventh-round rookie punter Ethan Evans and undrafted rookie long snapper Alex Ward remain on the roster, but without Brown, the Rams will need to look into adding a new kicker out of the free agent market. Or they may attempt to follow the recent trends and trade for one.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/10/23

Today’s minor moves around the NFL:

Arizona Cardinals

Chicago Bears

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Waived: DB Carlins Platel

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

  • Signed: T Drew Himmelman

 

Bailey has been the punter for the Patriots since the team drafted him in the fifth round in 2019. He spent some time on injured reserve this past season and looked ready to return before being suspended by the team in response to missed rehabilitation appointments. In Bailey’s absence, New England relied on former Panther Michael Palardy for the rest of the season. With Palardy set to hit free agency, the Patriots will need to figure out who will be flipping the field for them next year.

Gray has been a standout special teamer for the Saints, earning first-team All-Pro honors in 2021. His new contract will be his largest yet, a three-year, $9.6MM deal, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The deal includes $4MM guaranteed, $2.4MM at signing, and has annual playing time incentives that could pay up to $500,000 per season. The first year’s base salary of $1.1MM is fully guaranteed for injury, followed by second- and third-year base salaries of $2.5MM and $2.6MM, respectively. The new contract has an potential maximum value of $11.1MM.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/9/23

18 teams had their seasons come to an end yesterday, and their front offices have already turned the page to the 2023 NFL seaon. This started today, as a number of players were signed to reserve/futures contracts, which allows organizations to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players throughout the offseason. Here are today’s reserve/futures contracts:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

  • WR Ty Fryfogle

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Washington Commanders

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/24/22

Following the Saturday slate of games, we still have four more games this week. Here are the minor moves leading up to the three Sunday games on Christmas Day:

Arizona Cardinals

Denver Broncos

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

Murphy has missed the last five games for the Cardinals while dealing with a back issue, so while it’s not necessarily a further setback for Arizona, the transaction indicates that Murphy will miss the rest of the season before going into free agency. With Murphy absent, the Cardinals have started veteran Antonio Hamilton across from Marco Wilson.

Since losing starting running back Javonte Williams to injured reserve and waiving Melvin Gordon, the Broncos have utilized a combination of Marlon Mack, Latavius Murray, and a pinch of Edmonds. Edmonds was sent to Denver in a trade that sent star pass rusher Bradley Chubb to Miami. He only recorded four rushing attempts in two games with the Broncos before being placed on IR with an ankle injury. Edmonds will return to help back up Murray and Mack in the team’s final three games of the season.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/19/22

Today’s minor transactions from around the league:

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/3/22

Here are the league’s minor transactions leading into the Sunday-slate of Week 13 games:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC West

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 49ersCardinals, Rams and Seahawks moves are noted below.

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

Arizona Cardinals

Claimed:

Waived:

Signed to practice squad:

Los Angeles Rams

Signed to practice squad:

San Francisco 49ers

Signed:

Claimed:

Placed on IR:

Released from IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Seattle Seahawks

Signed:

Claimed:

Waived:

  • LB Joshua Onujiogu

Placed on IR:

Reverted to IR:

Signed to practice squad:

Rams Reduce Roster To 53 Players

As the Rams look to defend their Super Bowl title, the team reduced their roster to the 53-man limit today:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Placed on reserve/NFI:

Placed on reserve/PUP:

Placed on reserve/suspended:

Jacob Harris getting cut came as a bit of a surprise after the 2021 fourth-round pick got into nine games as a rookie. However, he rarely got a look on offense in 2021, and despite the Rams only rostering two tight ends at the end of the day (Tyler Higbee, Brycen Hopkins), Harris was let go. Chris Garrett was also a 2021 draft pick, being selected by the Rams in the seventh round. He only got into one game as a rook.

AJ Arcuri was a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft, but the rookie didn’t show enough to crack the 53-man roster. There’s a good chance the Michigan State product lands back on the Rams practice squad.