Tag: practice squad

Steven Nelson comes out of retirement, signs with Chiefs practice squad

The Kansas City #Chiefs signed veteran DB Steven Nelson on Monday after their win over the Los Angeles #Chargers on ‘Sunday Night Football’

The Kansas City Chiefs signed veteran defensive back Steven Nelson to a practice squad contract on Monday after their Week 14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Nelson, who initially entered the league as a third-round pick of the Chiefs in the 2015 NFL draft, played in Kansas City for four seasons before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019.

After his time in the City of Bridges, Nelson played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021 and the Houston Texans in 2022 and 2023 before he announced his retirement on June 6, 2024.

Though it may take some time for Nelson to earn an activation from the Chiefs’ practice squad, his addition signals that general manager Brett Veach saw a need to add experience to Kansas City’s secondary.

Fans can expect Nelson to become a key contributor to the Chiefs’ defensive backfield if injuries continue to affect Kansas City’s cornerback depth in the final weeks of the regular season.

Raiders add potential Jakobi Meyers replacement for week 14

With Jakobi Meyers Questionable with an ankle injjury week 14 vs the Buccaneers, the Raiders elevated practice squad WR Kristian Wilkerson.

Thursday, Raiders starting receiver Jakobi Meyers suddenly missed practice with an ankle injury. Friday morning, head coach Antonio Pierce said Meyers would be full go for practice, but when the official injury report came out, Meyers was limited with the ankle and officially Questionable for the game.

The Raiders can ill afford to lose any receivers due to their already lacking depth at the position, especially after DJ Turner was placed on injured reserve this week. But of all the receivers they can least afford to lose, it’s Meyers.

Pierce seemed confident Meyers would be able to play Sunday in Tampa, but Saturday the team made a contingency plan, elevating Kristian Wilkerson.

The four-year veteran originally signed with the Raiders in May of 2023 and has been with the team off and on since then. He appeared in two games last season with one start and this would be his third game with the team this season. He has two catches for 18 yards and a touchdown this season.

Earlier this week, they signed practice squad wide receiver Terrace Marshall to fill the spot on the depth chart when Turner was placed on IR.

But even with Marshall, the Raiders had just four wide receivers on the active roster. Should Meyers be unable to go, they would have been left with just three, making the Wilkerson elevation a must, if only to ensure they could field a full starting lineup with one reserve.

WATCH: Micah Hyde makes his return to Bills practice

WATCH: Micah Hyde makes his return to Bills practice

The Buffalo Bills brought back an old friend on Wednesday as they signed safety Micah Hyde to the practice squad.

Many Bills fans and media were thinking about a potential reunion in the back of their minds after general manager Brandon Beane alluded to keeping the door open way back in March. Now, it has finally happened, and the former team captain joins while the Bills are riding a seven-game win streak into Week 14.

Although head coach Sean McDermott has tempered expectations for the two-time All-Pro, the Bills are glad to have him back home for one final push.

Watch Hyde’s return to Bills practice on Thursday below:

Veteran Saints safety suspended three games for violating substance abuse policy

Veteran New Orleans Saints safety Roderic Teamer has been suspended three games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy:

Veteran New Orleans Saints safety Roderic Teamer has been suspended three games without pay for violating the NFL’s substances of abuse policy, the league announced Wednesday. Teamer was on the Saints practice squad and is eligible to be reinstated on Dec. 24, after their Week 16 game with the Green Bay Packers.

Teamer had only played on special teams in a couple of games earlier this season, but the Saints’ depth at safety had been questioned after a shoulder injury sidelined Tyrann Mathieu during Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Mathieu is expected to play in their upcoming game with the New York Giants but Teamer’s absence creates one less option to replace him if there’s a setback.

For now, the safeties on the 53-man roster include Mathieu, Will Harris, J.T. Gray, and Jordan Howden. Ugo Amadi has primarily manned the slot since Alontae Taylor moved outside at cornerback but he has experience working over the top, too.

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Bucs pluck safety off Lions practice squad

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers pluck safety Kaevon Merriweather off Lions practice squad just two weeks after he signed in Detroit

Kaevon Merriweather, we hardly knew ye in Detroit.

The veteran safety was signed off the Lions practice squad by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday after reports came out on Tuesday. Merriweather had just recently signed with the Lions, joining the team’s practice squad on November 21st. He did not appear in any games with the Lions.

Merriweather rejoins the Buccaneers, where he played the first two seasons of his career. The Bucs have a rash of injuries of their own, with as many as three safeties potentially out for Week 14. Merriweather’s familiarity with their defensive scheme and special teams experience led Tampa Bay to poach him from Detroit.

Because he was signed directly off the Lions practice squad, Merriweather must spend at least the next three weeks on Tampa Bay’s 53-man roster.

Rams sign 3 players to practice squad, including a CB they just waived

The Rams signed three players to the practice squad, including CB Charles Woods, who was just waived Monday

The Los Angeles Rams had a handful of spots available on the practice squad and they filled them on Tuesday. The team announced it has signed defensive tackle Jack Heflin, cornerback Charles Woods and nose tackle Kevin Strong to the practice squad.

Only Woods was with the Rams previously, so Heflin and Strong are two new faces in Los Angeles. The Rams waived Woods on Monday to make room for Emmanuel Forbes, but he cleared waivers and was brought back to the practice squad.

Heflin is a 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive tackle who spent last year with the Saints after stints with the Packers and Giants. He’s played in six games during his career.

Strong is a sixth-year veteran who spent time with the Cardinals last season after playing for the Lions and Titans. He’s played 50 games and made 13 career starts, recording 3.5 sacks across his five seasons. He has not played a game yet this season.

Broncos elevate offensive lineman from practice squad ahead of ‘MNF’

The Broncos have elevated guard/center Nick Gargiulo from the practice squad to the game-day roster ahead of ‘Monday Night Football.’

The Denver Broncos are calling up an offensive line reinforcement from the practice squad ahead of their Week 13 showdown with the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football.

The Broncos elevated guard/center Nick Gargiulo from the practice squad to the game-day roster on Monday, according to KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis. He will revert back to the practice squad on Tuesday.

Players can be elevated up to three times during the season without having to clear waivers to return to the practice squad. This marks Gargiulo’s second straight elevation. He was inactive after being elevated last week.

Elsewhere on the transaction front, Denver did not activate wide receiver Josh Reynolds from injured reserve on Monday. The deadline to activate Reynolds is Wednesday. If he is not activated before then, Reynolds will remain on IR for the rest of the season.

Monday’s game will be nationally televised on ESPN. Playing at home, the Broncos are considered favorites in Week 13.

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Freshly signed Jamal Adams working with Lions LBs in his 1st practice in Detroit

Adams played the hybrid LB/S role quite a bit in the last couple of seasons and it appears that’s what Detroit has in mind for the veteran, too

Monday was the first time in a Detroit Lions uniform for freshly signed veteran Jamal Adams. After joining the team’s practice squad over the weekend, Adams did what many suspected he would do in Detroit’s banged-up defense.

He worked out with the linebacking corps and not the secondary, at least in the portion of practice open to the media on Monday.

Adams has been a safety, or at least designated as a safety, for his entire eight-year NFL career. The 6-foot-1, 213-pounder has dabbled more than a little at playing as a box safety or de facto linebacker, however. With the Titans in 2023, Adams played the “Edge safety” role popularized by Jabrill Peppers and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, much more than he ever played in coverage behind the linebackers.

In Detroit, the Lions had Ifeatu Melifonwu playing that role quite well down the stretch of 2023. Melifonwu has been out all season with multiple injuries, and Aaron Glenn’s defense hasn’t really used the role in his absence. Adams’s experience and seek-and-destroy attitude offer the chance to bring that role back and give the Lions some fresh options on defense. The 3-time Pro Bowler (2018-2020) even played a little in that role against Green Bay earlier this season with Tennessee.

It remains to be seen if Adams will play on Thursday night against the NFC North rival Packers. He would need to be elevated from the practice squad in order to play.

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Lions practice squad strategy is a reflection of Dan Campbell’s roster vision

The Lions practice squad strategy is a reflection of Dan Campbell’s roster vision, and he’s proud of it

All NFL teams carry a 53-man active roster. Teams also get a 16-person practice squad, which can serve in a variety of capacities depending on the team.

For Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions, that practice squad is effectively an extension of the 53-man roster. The Lions routinely elevate players from the practice squad to the active roster for games, and have liberally utilized the practice squad to bolster depth with veterans.

Several times over the years, Campbell has indicated that he considers those vets on the practice squad as being on the actual roster. He reinforced that view on Sunday.

With the Lions adding veteran safety Jamal Adams to the practice squad and signing three vets off other teams’ squads to fill out Detroit’s injury-ravaged defense, Campbell put the Lions money where his mouth is on the practice squad front.

“We say it every year but they’re an extension of the roster. They really are a part of the roster,” Campbell said emphatically. “It’s just a different way to get them on your team because you’re going to need them, you’re going to have to use them, and I think having the right balance of vets who have been able to – they’ve played in this league, they understand it, it’s not too big for them, plug and play, serve a role, a purpose, you know exactly what they can do, and you appreciate that about them. I think it’s big.”

Detroit’s practice squad composition reflects Campbell’s attitude toward the unit. It’s stocked with veterans like Adams and fellow safety Kaevon Merriweather, wide receivers Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tom Kennedy, offensive tackle Jamarco Jones and tight end James Mitchell — all who have years of NFL experience.

Many teams use the practice squad more as a developmental tool for younger players. The Lions have some of that, too. Undrafted rookies Isaac Ukwu, Kinglsey Eguakun and Morice Norris are learning and growing with every practice. But that’s quite divergent from other teams who use the practice squad as a repository for unproven and developmental players. As an example, the Packers have 11 rookies on their practice squad and just one player who was in the NFL before 2022 amongst their 16-man unit.

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Lions poach linebacker from Broncos’ practice squad

The Lions have signed linebacker Kwon Alexander off the Broncos’ practice squad.

The Detroit Lions are poaching a linebacker from the Denver Broncos.

The Lions have signed linebacker Kwon Alexander off the Broncos’ practice squad to their own 53-man roster. Denver could have prevented it by promoting Alexander, but the team previously opted to promote Zach Cunningham from the practice squad to the active roster earlier this week.

The news was broken by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday morning and has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. Detroit added Alexander after losing Malcolm Rodriguez to a knee injury on Thanksgiving.

Alexander (6-1, 227 pounds) used up his three practice squad elevations in Denver by rotating with Justin Strnad (6-3, 235 pounds) at inside linebacker from Weeks 7-9. Alexander even started two of those games and he got a season-high 31 snaps in Week 9. Strnad’s snaps dropped from 42 to 37 to 14 in the games Alexander played.

Alexander totaled eight tackles, forced one fumble and recovered one fumble in his three games with Denver before landing in Detroit.

Alexander, a 30-year-old veteran, and Cunningham joined the practice squad in September after the Broncos lost Alex Singleton to a season-ending knee injury. Cody Barton and Strnad have been starting at inside linebacker. Cunningham and Levelle Bailey will be the remaining depth options in Denver after the team lost Alexander.

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