Friday’s practice squad moves:
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: WR Joseph Ngata
- Placed on practice squad injured list: OL Jack Driscoll
The Panthers are making multiple changes to their defensive staff after ranking dead-last in yards and points allowed this season.
Head coach Dave Canales recently reaffirmed his confidence in defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, but the team has moved on from three members of his staff. Safeties coach Bert Watts, outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, and quality control coach Bobby Maffei will not return under Evero in 2025, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Watts was the Broncos’ outside linebackers coach in 2022 and followed Evero from Denver to Carolina in 2023. The Panthers’ secondary allowed the 10th-most passing yards in the NFL in 2024, along with a league-high 35 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. The unit did deal with several injuries, including stints on injured reserve by Sam Franklin and Jordan Fuller.
Lukabu also joined the Panthers in 2023 after serving as Boston College’s defensive coordinator. Carolina’s edge rush struggled to generate pressure without Brian Burns this year, and the team as a whole allowed a league-high 3,057 rushing yards and 5.2 yards per carry.
Maffei started with the Panthers as a defensive assistant in 2022 and received a promotion to defensive quality control coach after Evero’s arrival. His specific role in the team’s defense is not known, but it’s not surprising to see widespread changes after the Panthers’ defensive struggles during the regular season.
Canales and Evero will spend the coming weeks interviewing candidates to join their staff and help the Panthers defense bounce back from one of the worst statistical seasons in league history.
The meteoric rise continues for Ephraim Banda. The Browns safeties coach has only been in the NFL for two years, and he already has earned his first defensive coordinator interview. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports that Banda will meet with the Colts about their open defensive coordinator position. 
Banda’s story is an inspiring one of perseverance and never giving up on your dreams. A high school athlete that turned down a few small school scholarship offers to do junior college and walk on somewhere bigger, Banda found himself working as a bartender while taking classes in San Antonio and staying in football shape by playing in amateur leagues. In 2007, Banda finally got his chance when Incarnate Word created a football program. He walked on at 25 years old, but since he wasn’t on scholarship, he had to continue bartending.
Unfortunately, a knee injury ended any hopes of a playing career for Banda. Still, he refused to give up on his football dream, working as a student assistant for the Cardinals in San Antonio while finishing his degree. He earned a graduate assistant position at the University of Texas on the recommendation of an Incarnate Word coach who had been hired by the Longhorns. In Austin, he met then-defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, another upstart coach who came to football after jobs outside of the sport.
He stayed at Texas for three years, even after Diaz was fired, coaching with the program through the transition from Mack Brown to Charlie Strong. Diaz bounced back in 2015 getting hired as the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, and Banda joined him in Starkville as a defensive quality control coach. When Diaz was poached by Mark Richt to serve as defensive coordinator in Coral Gables, Banda got his first position coaching job as Miami’s safeties coach.
After three years and sending players like Rayshawn Jenkins, Jaquan Johnson, and Sheldrick Redwine to the NFL, Banda was promoted to co-defensive coordinator of the Hurricanes as Diaz took over the head coaching gig. In 2021, Banda finally parted ways with Diaz, taking the defensive coordinator and safeties coach job at Utah State. He held the role for two years before earning his first NFL job under Jim Schwartz in Cleveland.
In Banda’s two years in Cleveland, the Browns finished first in passing defense in 2023 and 12th this season. He’s managed an impressive safeties group over that time with Grant Delpit leading the group while Ronnie Hickman and Rodney McLeod have filled in for injuries here and there to the other starter, Juan Thornhill.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard has been quoted as valuing a more aggressive approach on defense, per ESPN’s Stephen Holder, something that is likely to affect the team’s coordinator search. According to Mike Chappell of FOX59/CBS4 Sports, the team has also announced that defensive backs coach Ron Milus and linebackers coach Richard Smith will not be returning to the staff in 2025.
With this note, while Banda will be interviewing for the coordinator position, this visit could also serve as an interview for the open defensive backs coaching job, should he fall short. Regardless, the 43-year-old is moving quickly through the coaching ranks of the sport and is a name to watch in the years to come.
Many teams have started signing players to reserve/futures contracts, allowing the organization to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players through the offseason. Here are the latest reserve/futures contracts:
Dallas Cowboys
- RB Malik Davis
Kansas City Chiefs
- LB Shaun Bradley, DB Jason Taylor
Today’s practice squad moves:
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: QB Brett Rypien
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: QB Ian Book
- Released: DB Mekhi Garner
Today’s minor moves:
Detroit Lions
- Designated for return: CB Ennis Rakestraw
Los Angeles Chargers
- Waived: OL Jordan McFadden
Minnesota Vikings
- Designated for return: DL Taki Taimani
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Waived: WR Scotty Miller
In recent months, the 49ers have made adjustments to the contracts for both wide receiver Deebo Samuel and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. Both contracts have notable potential outs following the 2024 NFL season, and it appears that San Francisco intends to act on one of those outs. According to general manager John Lynch, the 49ers plan to retain Samuel for the final year of his contract but will release Hargrave with a post-June 1 designation once the new league year starts in March. 
Samuel’s recent contract reconstruction resulted in a situation in which he would account for $31.55MM of dead money should he be cut or traded before June 1. A post-June 1 designation would reduce that dead money hit to $10.75MM and result in cap savings in 2025 of $5.21MM. If the team had not utilized the post-June 1 designation on Hargrave, his release would’ve resulted in $24.86MM of dead money, but with the designation, that number dips down to $7.38MM, resulting in $2.85MM of cap savings.
Samuel, who is turning 29 in a week, just concluded a disappointing, injury-plagued season. It continued a trend of what seems to be alternating years of health and production versus years of injuries and a lack of top-end production. Following the conclusion of his 2024 campaign, Samuel claimed he had “no questions at all” about his future in San Francisco.
Hargrave, 31, just finished an injury-plagued season himself, the first such season of his nine-year career. Following two Pro Bowl campaigns in the last three years, Hargrave only made an appearance in three games in 2024. Hargrave’s recent restructuring facilitated a smooth effecting of the potential out, knowing the strain his $47.86MM cap hit was set to put on the organization in 2026.
Lynch and the Niners made it sound as if they hope to potentially compete in Hargrave’s free agency, but Wagoner claims the reunion is an unlikely one unless Hargrave agrees to a significantly reduced contract. Look for the veteran defender to shop his talents around a bit before potentially committing to return with a pay cut.
Today’s minor transactions:
Los Angeles Chargers
- Designated to return from IR: CB Eli Apple
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed off Bills’ practice squad: S Lewis Cine
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Designated to return from IR: CB Troy Hill
Washington Commanders
- Designated to return from IR: TE Colson Yankoff
- Placed on IR: DT Haggai Ndubuisi
A former first-round pick, Cine will get a third chance in Philadelphia. The Georgia-product has failed to gain much traction at his first two stops with the Vikings and Bills, but he’ll open the postseason on the active roster with the Eagles.
Once a ball-hawking cornerback for the Rams, Hill’s role has reduced quite a bit in his age-33 season. With the playoffs coming up, though, Hill has the potential to provide some experienced depth in the Buccaneers secondary.
Wednesday’s reserve/futures deals around the NFL:
Indianapolis Colts:
Washington Commanders
- TE Lawrence Cager, T Anim Dankwah, RB Demetric Felton
Wednesday’s practice squad moves around the league:
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: DT Eli Ankou, LB Tyreek Maddox-Williams
San Francisco 49ers
- Released: WR Ronnie Bell
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DT Adam Gotsis
Washington Commanders
- Signed: T Max Pircher
Gotsis will provide veteran D-line depth for the Bucs in advance of the playoffs. The 32-year-old has 126 games and 54 starts to his name, including five appearances with the Colts earlier this year. It will be interesting to see if Gotsis makes his way onto Tampa Bay’s roster in time for the team’s wild-card round either through promotion or as a gameday elevation.