Today’s minor moves before Championship Sunday:
Cincinnati Bengals
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Rams
San Francisco 49ers
Here are Friday’s minor moves:
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Dallas Cowboys
Las Vegas Raiders
New England Patriots
Here are Saturday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Football Team
The first minor moves of 2022:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Cincinnati Bengals
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texas
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Football Team
Here are the NFL moves from Christmas and today:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
New England Patriots
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Football Team
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Trae Waynes is back. The Bengals activated their starting cornerback from injured reserve today, reports Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (via Twitter). Offensive lineman D’Ante Smith has also been activated from IR (per ESPN’s Ben Baby on Twitter).
The Bengals signed Waynes to a three-year, $42MM deal in March 2020, but the organization has only gotten two games out of their investment. Waynes missed all of 2020 because of a torn pec, and a hamstring injury forced him to miss the start of this season. The 29-year-old managed to get into Week 4 and Week 5, starting both games while collecting five tackles. However, he aggravated his hamstring injury in that latter game, and he hasn’t seen the field since.
Waynes is attached to an $8.4MM base salary this season; that number climbs to $10.4MM in 2022. The Bengals are on the hook for Waynes’ prorated signing bonus ($5MM) next year but could save $11MM by making the seven-year vet a cap casualty. The veteran’s performance down the stretch will likely determine his future with the organization.
Smith is a fourth-round rookie out of East Carolina. He didn’t see the field during the first month of the season, and he was stashed on IR with a knee injury in mid-October.
The Bengals made a handful of additional moves in anticipation of their game against the Broncos tomorrow, promoting linebacker Austin Calitro, wide receiver Trent Taylor, and linebacker Keandre Jones from the practice squad.
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 Bengals, Browns, Ravens and Steelers moves are noted below.
Here are Wednesday’s AFC North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.
Signed to practice squad:
Claimed:
Released:
Waived:
Signed to practice squad:
Signed:
Placed on IR:
Signed to practice squad:
WR Ja’Marcus Bradley, DT Sheldon Day, TE Jordan Franks, DE Porter Gustin, RB John Kelly, LB Elijah Lee, S Jovante Moffatt, QB Nick Mullens (story), WR JoJo Natson, FB Johnny Stanton, OL Jordan Steckler, DE Curtis Weaver
Signed to practice squad:
The Bengals are in the books. With less than an hour before the deadline, the Bengals announced a series of roster cuts to take them down to 53. Here’s the full rundown:
Placed on Reserve/Non-Football Injury list:
Placed on Reserve/Injured list:
Released:
Waived:
For now, this leaves the Bengals with seven wide receivers on the roster: Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, Mike Thomas, Auden Tate, Stanley Morgan Jr., Tee Higgins, and Trenton Irwin. Meanwhile, they’re down a couple starters from last year in Michael Jordan and Mike Daniels.
The Bengals are set to sign Trent Taylor (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). The slot receiver/punt returner auditioned for the club over the weekend and emerged from rookie minicamp with a deal. 
The Niners selected Taylor in the fifth round of the 2017 draft. As a member of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch‘s first class in San Francisco, he showed early promise as a rookie. Unfortunately, he had to undergo back surgery prior to the 2018 season — Taylor says he never felt fully healthy that year. Then, he missed all of the 2019 season.
Taylor returned last year, but recorded just ten grabs for 86 yards in 12 games. On the plus side, he averaged 12.4 yards on his nine punt returns.
Now, he’ll look to get back to his old form with the Bengals. Both sides will be pleased if Taylor’s able to stick on the roster and reprise his 43 grabs for 430 yards and two TDs.