The Giants announced a couple of roster moves on Thursday afternoon.
They have signed linebacker Anfernee Orji to their 90-man roster. Defensive lineman Ben Barten has been waived in a corresponding move.
Orji signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2023 and spent two seasons with the team. He moved on to the Titans last year, but missed the whole season after tearing his ACL in the preseason.
Orji had 30 tackles in 16 games for the Saints. He saw most of his playing time on special teams in New Orleans, but did make a pair of starts on defense.
Barten signed with the Giants after going undrafted out of Wisconsin this year.
Titans Clips
The Titans will be getting right tackle JC Latham going at training camp over the next few days.
Head coach Robert Saleh told reporters at a Thursday press conference that Latham is being activated from the physically unable to perform list. The plan is for him to spend the next couple of days ramping back up with the intent for him to be fully integrated into the practice mix on Saturday.
The Titans previously activated safety Amani Hooker and do not have any other players on the PUP list.
Safety Hudson Clark will also be joining the Titans at practice. The team announced his signing and that Sanoussi Kane has been waived with an injury designation. Clark spent time with the Raiders last summer and played in the UFL this spring.
The Rams signed veteran offensive lineman Blake Hance on Wednesday, the team announced.
Hance, 30, spent last season with the Titans, playing four games and starting one. He saw action on 89 offensive snaps and 17 on special teams.
He has also appeared in games with the Browns (2021) and Jaguars (2022-24).
Hance has appeared in 63 games with 11 starts over his five-year NFL career. He has played 976 offensive snaps and 251 special teams snaps.
Hance also had stints with the Bills (2019), Commanders (2019), Jets (2020) and 49ers (2022). He originally signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent following the 2019 draft out of Northwestern.
Hall of Fame defensive end and multi-platform TV personality Michael Strahan took some criticism last month for not mentioning the connection between ALS and football in his interview with former NFL running back Chris Johnson, who disclosed that he has the disease.
Appearing on Tuesday’s edition of The Dan Patrick Show, Patrick asked Strahan if, in retrospect, Strahan believes he should have asked that question.
“Well, I had that — I actually thought about that, because I saw what every[one said], ‘Well you should have asked this, you should have asked that.’ Well, you should have got the interview. How about that?” Strahan said. “That’s one thing.”
That’s one sort of petty thing. The “get” doesn’t become a license to not get to the right questions. It also invites the question, generally speaking, as to whether an “exclusive” interview was less of a “get” and more of a “give” to someone who won’t ask the most probing and necessary questions.
“Two,” Strahan told Patrick, “two, that was Chris’s moment for Chris to share the story which Chris wanted to share. And when I got the call that Chris wanted to share that he has, you know, ALS, that was the story. It wasn’t for me to try to grandstand, which — I hate when people do this, Dan. As an interviewer, our job is [to] deliver information. I’m not trying to get a bigger name for myself by putting somebody else in an uncomfortable position. I was there as a service to Chris, for what Chris wanted people to understand and know about his life and where he was now. I was not there to make a story about myself or to get a big headline — that’s what it wasn’t about. The headlines were about Chris is where they needed to be.
“I did ask Chris about football, how the NFL has been supportive and all those things. He has twin boys who play football right now. So there are so many things that people don’t know but a few were critical of, but overall I’m very proud of what we did there at ABC in bringing that story. And I’m very proud and very happy that Chris trusted us to tell it. Because that was Chris’s story to tell. The headline’s about Chris Johnson, not about Michael Strahan. I don’t make any of these things about myself. And that was the disappointing thing for a few people who were critical of that. But if you don’t have critics that means you’re not doing a good job, too.”
Many would say that’s not how an interview should work, even on a feel-good network morning show. Certain topics are unavoidable. It’s not “grandstanding” to ask an obvious question and to trust that the subject of the interview will be able to handle it.
“Do you believe your ALS is a result of playing football?” If yes, “Would you have still played football if you knew then what you know now?” (The fact that Johnson’s sons play football makes those questions even more appropriate.)
And it’s obvious that there’s a connection between ALS and football, starting with the fact that ALS is a no-questions-asked condition that triggers payment under the NFL’s concussion settlement fund and continuing with the studies that show an increased risk of ALS for those who played in the NFL.
Here’s the other point that Strahan didn’t address. After the interview, when Strahan and his colleagues discussed the situation in the studio, the obvious connection could have, and arguably should have, been mentioned. Indeed, Strahan’s narration of the interview included the conclusion that Johnson’s diagnosis was attributed not to a family history of ALS but to the 90 percent of ALS cases that are regarded as “sporadic” with no known cause.
As noted by Brendon Kleen of Awful Announcing, the separate online story from ABC also failed to address the clear link between ALS and football.
And so, even if Strahan is disappointed by the criticism, the criticism is fair. Even if he didn’t feel comfortable in asking Johnson about the connection between ALS and football (Strahan didn’t mention to Patrick whether Johnson asked before the interview to avoid that topic), ABC could have — and absolutely should have — addressed it.
Failing to do so invites questions as to whether ABC tiptoed around the established link between ALS and football as a favor to the NFL, which now owns 10 percent of ABC’s sister company, ESPN, especially since Strahan’s defense to the criticism included a comment that he asked Johnson “how the NFL has been supportive” of him.
The sixth overall pick in the 2017 draft will be joining his sixth team.
Jordan Schultz reported that Jamal Adams will be signing with the Vikings. Adams has since confirmed it, tweeting, “Year 10 #skol.”
Adams spent three years with the Jets, making it to two Pro Bowls and finishing 2018 as a second-team All-Pro and 2019 as a first-team All-Pro.
He was traded to the Seahawks in 2020, qualifying for a third Pro Bowl and finishing on the All-Pro second team. The next year, he signed a four-year, $70 million extension that made him the highest-paid safety in NFL history.
He stayed with the Seahawks through 2023. In 2024, he played for the Titans and Lions. After switching last year from safety to linebacker, Adams appeared in 17 games with four starts for the Raiders.
Adams has earned more than $71 million in his nine-year career.
It’s unclear whether he’ll be playing safety or linebacker in the Brian Flores defense. Given the flexibility and creativity of the scheme, he could play both.
Cornerback Nazeeh Johnson is officially a member of the Titans.
Johnson agreed to terms with the AFC South team late last week and the Titans officially announced the signing on Monday. Cornerback Latrell McCutchin was waived to open a spot for Johnson on the 90-man roster in Nashville.
Johnson played in 29 regular season games and six playoff contests for the Chiefs over the last four years. He had 74 tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, and four passes defensed while playing for Kansas City.
McCutchin signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent. He spent the last four seasons at Marshall.
The Titans have agreed to terms with free agent defensive back Nazeeh Johnson, according to his representation, Katz Brothers Sports.
Johnson, 28, visited the Eagles and Giants this offseason after becoming a free agent in March.
The Chiefs made Johnson a seventh-round pick in 2022, and he spent his first four seasons with them. He played only two games last season after injuring a shoulder in the preseason.
Johnson missed all of 2023 with a torn ACL.
He has played 29 games with six starts in his career, with all of his 494 defensive snaps coming in 2024. He has also played 286 special teams snaps.
Johnson has totaled 66 tackles and a sack in the regular season, with eight tackles in the postseason.
The Panthers added even more depth at offensive tackle on Friday, after signing offensive tackle Derrell Bailey earlier in the day.
Carolina claimed offensive tackle Ryan Hayes off waivers from the Titans, the team announced.
The Panthers are currently practicing without tackles Ikem Ekwonu and Taylor Moton.
Hayes, 26, was on the practice squad of the Falcons last season.
He entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Dolphins in 2023 out of Michigan. He has also spent time with the Colts, the Dolphins a second time and the Falcons. He has appeared in one game, which came with the Dolphins in 2024.
In a corresponding move, the Panthers waived wide receiver Kobe Prentice.
Mike Vrabel has been reunited with another one of his former receivers.
But this time, that receiver won’t be playing.
Vrabel told reporters in his Friday press conference that DeAndre Hopkins will be at Patriots training camp for the next few days, working as a coach and with the personnel department.
“Him and I talked, and he asked if he could come hang out for a couple of days, and be around the coaches, and be around the personnel department,” Vrabel said. “I called the league and made sure that was going to be OK. And then I invited him back, and that’s where he’s been the last couple of days and he’ll be here the next couple of days.
"[H]e has got coaching gear on and he is helping out the offensive coaches. And meeting with our personnel guys. I mean, he loves football. People that love football and have played the game for the length of time that he did, [he] wants, I think, to explore the opportunities and what that looks like after his playing career is over.”
Hopkins said in an interview last month that he feels like he has “a lot of ball left,” but wasn’t trying to force anything when it comes to being with a team.
Hopkins appeared in all 17 games for Baltimore last season, recording 22 catches for 330 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
The Titans have made a series of roster moves on Thursday as they get set to begin training camp.
Tennessee announced offensive tackle JC Latham and safety Amani Hooker have been placed on the physically unable to perform list.
Reporter Paul Kuharsky noted both Latham and Hooker have short-term injuries and are expected to be on the field soon.
During training camp, players on PUP can be taken off the list at any time.
Additionally, the Titans signed offensive tackle Zachary Thomas and waived offensive tackle Ryan Hayes.
Rookies reported to Tennessee’s training camp on Thursday with veterans slated to be in next Tuesday.
