The New York Giants released offensive tackle Darian Kinnard from the practice squad on Friday, ending a brief stay in East Rutherford that never reached the active roster, via the NFL transaction wire.
Team reporters confirmed the move alongside the signing of veteran offensive lineman Kendrick Green.
Green was on the practice field earlier in the day and that Kinnard had been released. The Giants, 2-1 and preparing to host the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4, made the swap as they continued to reshuffle depth along the offensive line.
Kinnard had joined New York on September 1 after the Green Bay Packers waived him on August 30 as part of final roster cuts.
The 26-year-old had re-signed with Green Bay in March on a one-year deal worth up to $3.75 million, then failed to make the 53-man roster.
His Giants agreement was a practice-squad contract, so the release carries little salary-cap consequence and returns him to the open market.
The former Kentucky tackle is not a pure developmental prospect.
A fifth-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022, he has appeared in 20 NFL games and started five, including four starts in 2025 while playing all 17 regular-season games for the Packers as a reserve right tackle and occasional fill-in when injuries hit the line.
He also has a Super Bowl résumé that few practice-squad players can match: rings with Kansas City in Super Bowls LVII and LVIII, and another with the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. The Eagles traded him to Green Bay in August 2025 for a 2027 sixth-round pick.
At Kentucky he was a consensus All-American and two-time first-team All-SEC selection, a 6-foot-5, roughly 322-pound mauler whose college tape suggested he could play tackle.
In the NFL, he has been used more as a swing lineman than a locked-in starter, with questions about lateral movement and technique keeping him on the fringe of rosters despite the size and the starting experience.
For the Giants, the move is a depth decision more than a verdict on Kinnard’s past. Green, a 2021 third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, started 15 games as a rookie and has 19 career starts at center and guard.
Kinnard, who had reunited in New York with former offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, leaves after about a month without an elevation to the active roster.
He is again a free agent, available to any club that wants a three-time Super Bowl champion who has already started games in the league.
