HEADLINES

Month: October 2016

Latest On Redskins TE Jordan Reed

October 14th, 2016 at 2:38pm CST by Zachary Links

The Redskins have listed tight end Jordan Reed as questionable on their injury report for this week. Of course, after suffering yet another concussion, it would be surprising if Reed suits up on Sunday against the Eagles. Jordan Reed (Vertical)

Reed has now suffered six documented concussions and he has likely had even more throughout the course of his football playing career. The tight end has admitted that he did not report one of his two concussions suffered in 2013.

So far this year, Reed leads all Redskins receivers with 33 catches for 316 yards and two touchdowns. He’ll likely be out for at least this week and the Redskins will turn to Vernon Davis and Niles Paul to replace him in the lineup. If Washington opts to promote a tight end, they could promote Derek Carrier from the practice squad.

Reed signed an extension with the Redskins this spring, a five-year pact with a $46.5MM base. After being limited to just 20 overall games in 2013 and 2014, Reed stayed healthy for 14 games last season, racking up 87 receptions for 952 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Pigskin Links: Falcons, Draft, Titans

October 14th, 2016 at 2:13pm CST by Zachary Links

Here at Pro Football Rumors, we deliver up-to-the-minute news on NFL transactions and high-quality original analysis. Each week, we also feature some of the best blog articles from around the web in our regular feature, Pigskin Links.

We’re looking for interesting reads on all things football from blogs of all sizes. While PFR is dedicated to player movement, Pigskin Links is open to pieces on all areas of the game. If you would like to suggest your blog post (or someone else’s) for Pigskin Links, send us an email with the link and a brief synopsis at PigskinLinks@gmail.com.

Here’s this week’s look around the football blogosphere:

Got a great football blog post that you want to see featured in next week’s Pigskin Links? Email it to Zach or tweet it to him: @ZachLinks.

Bears LB Pernell McPhee Returns To Practice

October 14th, 2016 at 1:43pm CST by Zachary Links

Pernell McPhee is one step closer to returning to the field. The Bears linebacker has been given the go-ahead to practice, coach John Fox told reporters today. Pernell McPhee (vertical)

McPhee had his left knee operated on in February, putting his status for this season in doubt. Prior to the start of the season, Chicago put him on the PUP list. The Bears now have exactly three weeks to decide whether to activate the veteran. If he is not put on the roster in the next 21 days, he cannot play this season. With any luck, McPhee will be able to suit up on Thursday Oct. 20 against the Packers.

McPhee came to Chicago on a five-year, $38.75MM deal last offseason. Last year, he was earning every penny of that contract before his knee slowed him down.

Browns Place Joel Bitonio On IR

October 14th, 2016 at 10:01am CST by Zachary Links

The Browns have placed left guard Joel Bitonio on injured reserve with a mid-foot sprain, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com tweets. To take his place on the roster, fullback Dan Vitale has been signed off of the Buccaneers’ practice squad (link). Joel Bitonio (vertical)

Bitonio’s injury is likely season-ending, though the new IR rules could technically allow for him to return. If Bitonio was to come back, he would not be eligible to play for another eight weeks.

Last year, Bitonio was placed on IR in December when an ankle injury forced him out of action. He was rated as the No. 33 guard in the NFL by Pro Football Focus when he was shut down last year. This year, through five games, PFF rated him as the ninth-best guard in the league (tied with Mike Iupati of the Cardinals). In 2016, he earned an overall grade of 83.3 with roughly even scores for his pass blocking and run blocking.

Vitale was a sixth-round pick of the Bucs this year. At Northwestern, Vitale racked up 135 catches for 1,427 receiving yards from 2012-15. He only carries the ball six times in college.

Dolphins’ Cameron Wake Won’t Request Trade

October 14th, 2016 at 9:38am CST by Zachary Links

Cameron Wake has spent his entire NFL career, which started in 2009, with the Dolphins. Unfortunately, the Dolphins haven’t been to the playoffs since the 2008 season. As the 1-4 Dolphins get set to take on the Steelers on Sunday, it doesn’t look like they’ll be snapping their playoff drought this year either. Still, Wake says that he won’t ask for a trade, as Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald writes. Cameron Wake

“It’s not a ‘which one’s more important,’” Wake said when asked about whether he wanted to win or spend the rest of his career with the Fins. “I just want to win. Obviously, I’m here in Miami and I’ll be here as long as they have me, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure Miami’s a winner. I’m not concerned with going anywhere else, doing anything else.”

Wake inked a two-year extension with Miami in May but the team can get out from under much of that obligation by trading him before the Nov. 1 trade deadline. The 34-year-old doesn’t have a say whether that happens, of course, but he’s not pushing for it to happen.

The seven-year veteran made only seven appearances last season due to a torn ACL. So far this year, he has four tackles and one sack.

Panthers Re-Sign Wes Horton

October 14th, 2016 at 9:19am CST by Zachary Links

The Panthers have re-signed defensive end Wes Horton, according to ESPN.com’s David Newton (Twitter link). Horton was waived by the Panthers on the weekend of the 53-man cutdown deadline. Wes Horton

Horton will provide depth for Carolina with defensive tackle Paul Soliai likely out for this week’s game against the Saints. Soliai is dealing with a sprained foot. Newton writes that Lavar Edwards, who can play end or on the interior D-Line, likely will be a part or the tackle rotation along with Kawann Short, Star Lotulelei, and Kyle Love.

An undrafted rookie in 2013, Horton made 15 starts for the Panthers in 2014 in place of suspended teammate Greg Hardy. Following a rookie campaign that saw him compile eight tackles and two sacks, the former USC standout finished his sophomore season with 26 tackles and three sacks. However, 2015 was a tumultuous year for Horton, who returned to a bench role, then was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancing substances.

Now he’s back in Carolina and hoping to stick on the roster.

AFC Notes: Fins, Ravens, Patriots, Jets

October 13th, 2016 at 9:41pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Defensive end Mario Williams needs to “play better” and “play harder,” Dolphins D-coordinator Vance Joseph told reporters, including Chris Perkins of the Sun-Sentinel, on Thursday. After the AFC East rival Bills released Williams in March, the Dolphins quickly signed the 2006 No. 1 overall pick to a two-year, $17MM deal. Williams, 31, has underwhelmed on the stat sheet in Miami, where he has picked up just seven tackles in a sack in five games. While Pro Football Focus grades Williams’ overall performance a decent 44th among 99 qualifying DEs, his production is way down since last season. Over his past 20 games, Williams has recorded a meager 26 tackles and six sacks.

Elsewhere around the AFC…

  • Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta endorsed the Monday firing of offensive coordinator Marc Trestman, saying Wednesday, “Marc Trestman is a great guy, a great coach. It was difficult to see him go, but I think it was something that this offense needed” (via Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun). Although injuries limited Pitta to just seven of 48 regular-season games from 2013-15, he bounced back this year under Trestman to catch 28 passes on 37 targets. As a whole, though, the Ravens’ offense ranks 18th in yardage, 22nd in scoring and 27th in DVOA. The unit will try to better its production under Marty Mornhinweg, whom Ravens players “have a lot of faith in,” Pitta added.
  • The Patriots might have to consider a long-term deal for contract-year tight end Martellus Bennett, observes Ryan Hannable of WEEI. The offseason trade pickup from Chicago has racked up 21 receptions with four touchdowns and a whopping 15.0 yards per catch over his first five games in New England. His production has helped make up for a slow start from Rob Gronkowski, who was either out or limited for the first four games of the season. Gronkowski broke out against the Browns last Sunday in a 33-13 win for New England, which appears to have the best tight end duo in the league with him and Bennett. “I’ve felt at home here since Day 1. It’s a place I feel like I belong,” Bennett said. The soon-to-be 30-year-old is currently on track to net a raise over his $5MM salary.
  • Jets receiver Eric Decker will undergo surgery on his injured right shoulder within the next two weeks, he announced Thursday, adding that he’ll need six to eight months to return to full strength (per Kimberley A. Martin of Newsday). “Getting surgery was really going to be the only answer,” said Decker, whom the Jets placed on injured reserve Wednesday because of a torn rotator cuff. Decker caught nine passes for a whopping 194 yards and two touchdowns in three games this season.

Breer’s Latest: Kaep, Tannehill, Ravens, Bills

October 13th, 2016 at 8:31pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick is set to return to the 49ers’ starting lineup this week, but his NFL future was in doubt as recently as last year. At least two teams that looked into Kaepernick as a potential trade acquisition had questions about whether he wanted to continue playing, reports Albert Breer of TheMMQB. Kaepernick ended up staying in San Francisco, of course, and will now take over head coach Chip Kelly‘s offense. If Kaepernick fails under Kelly, the league might not regard the 28-year-old as a viable option anymore, writes Breer, who notes that his career hangs in the balance. “This offense gives him the best chance, no doubt,” one 49ers source said of the mobile Kaepernick, who could become a free agent at season’s end.

More from Breer:

  • After last season, when it looked as if the 49ers would trade Kaepernick, the relationship between him and general manager Trent Baalke “couldn’t have been worse,” a source told Breer. Kaepernick has never trusted Baalke and views himself as a Jim Harbaugh draft pick, relays Breer. Baalke and Kaepernick went months without speaking to one another amid trade rumors last offseason and then met during the summer to clear the air. It doesn’t seem their meeting was productive, however, as sources close to Kaepernick see his relationship with Baalke as “irreparable,” per Breer.
  • Considering all the problems on their roster, the Dolphins aren’t sure if they can properly evaluate fifth-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill this season, Breer suggests. As a result, Breer doesn’t expect the Dolphins to move on from Tannehill during the offseason. Releasing the 2012 first-round pick before March would save Miami all but $3.5MM of his $17.98MM salary for 2017. The 28-year-old is under team control through 2020 on the six-year, $96MM extension he signed in May 2015.
  • Marc Trestman‘s pass-first philosophy helped bring an end to his tenure as the Ravens’ offensive coordinator, according to Breer. Baltimore fell from eighth in rushing under previous O-coordinator Gary Kubiak in 2014 to 26th last season with Trestman. Those ground woes have continued early this year for the Ravens, who rank 28th in rushing, though Terrance West has averaged an outstanding 5.0 yards per carry on 65 attempts. West picked up 95 yards in the Ravens’ 16-10 loss to the Redskins last Sunday, but he only amassed 11 carries in Trestman’s final game at the helm. “The players lost faith in [Trestman] last year, and he never got it back,” a Baltimore source said.
  • Trestman wasn’t the first offensive coordinator to lose his job this year. That description belongs to Greg Roman, whom the Bills ousted after Week 2. Buffalo has won three straight since replacing Roman with Anthony Lynn, though the Bills’ defense has played a larger role in the turnaround than their offense. Still, one Bills veteran explained to Breer the key difference in the offense since Lynn took the reins, saying, “We’re running the same plays that we did under G-Ro. It’s just that with Roman, we had a huge playbook and we could run absolutely anything from week-to-week. Anthony’s all about matchups… He played [in the NFL], so he knows matchups are huge.”

NFC Notes: Cowboys, Dak, Lions, Vikings

October 13th, 2016 at 7:00pm CST by Zachary Links

Cowboys rookie Dak Prescott has been among the NFL’s most effective quarterbacks through five weeks, but he’s prepared to surrender the starting role when Tony Romo is ready to return from injury in the coming weeks. The Cowboys are “Tony’s team,” according to Prescott, who took over as Dallas’ starter when Romo suffered a broken bone in his back in late August. A fourth-round pick from Mississippi State, Prescott has helped the Cowboys to a 4-1 record while completing 69 percent of his passes and combining for seven touchdowns (four passing, three rushing) Prescott has also amassed 155 attempts without an interception, which is the most ever for a player starting his career. He’ll try to keep that streak alive until at least Week 8, when Romo could come off the shelf. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insisted last Sunday that the No. 1 job belongs to Romo.

Now for a few NFC North notes:

  • The Lions gave Justin Forsett a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum with nothing guaranteed, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes. That means Forsett will earn less than $625K for the final 12 weeks of the season since the deal is prorated.
  • Jake Long‘s deal with the Vikings is for the prorated portion of the veterans’ minimum with an injury split of $453K, Ben Goessling of ESPN.com tweets. He’ll count only $423K against the salary cap because of the minimum salary benefit. At the moment, the Vikings are $379K over the salary cap, so they’ll have to move some money around.
  • Isame Faciane, one of Long’s fellow Vikings offensive linemen, is facing three misdemeanor charges after receiving a DWI citation Wednesday, according to Goessling. Faciane has been a member of the Vikings’ practice squad since 2014.

Practice Squad Updates: 10/13/16

October 13th, 2016 at 6:24pm CST by Zachary Links

Thursday’s practice squad transactions from around the NFL:

Baltimore Ravens

  • Signed: CB Robertson Daniel
  • Cut: G Jarell Broxton

Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Rams

New York Giants

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