Ryan Tannehill To Remain Dolphins’ Starter
Despite a 1-4 start to the season and an ugly performance on Sunday, the Dolphins aren’t planning on shaking up their offense. Following Miami’s loss to the Titans today, coach Adam Gase was emphatic that Ryan Tannehill would remain the team’s starting quarterback.
“No. He’s not coming out,” Gase said (via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald). “You can ask me 100 times, he’s going to be in there the rest of the season.”
The fifth-year starter has had a rough start to the season, and those struggles continued against Tennessee. Tannehill completed 12 of his 18 pass attempts for 191 yards and a pair of interceptions. Through five games, the 28-year-old has tossed six touchdowns and seven interceptions, and his 83.6 quarterback rating is the worst since his sophomore campaign. Of course, there’s plenty of reason to believe in Tannehill, as he threw 51 touchdowns between 2014 and 2015 (against only 24 picks).
For what it’s worth, Tannehill certainly recognizes his struggles, and he appreciates his coach’s long leash.
“I know coach has confidence in me — I have confidence in myself — and I think the guys on offense have confidence in me,” Tannehill said. “We’re going to go out and play. I’m going to push myself in practice, do everything I can do to get better and expect to play better.”
Miami fans are certainly familiar with the alternatives, as Salguero notes that chants of “we want Moore” were echoing through Hard Rock Stadium today. Veteran Matt Moore is the team’s only other quarterback, but the 32-year-old hasn’t started a game since 2011. Over the past four seasons, Moore has made six appearances with Miami, converting 53-percent of his passes for 219 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com points out that Gase was hired with the understanding that he could “bring in his own quarterback” after 2016. There’s a possibility that that could still be the case following this season. As Florio notes, if Tannehill remains on the Dolphins roster through the fifth day of the next league year, $14.47MM of his salary will become fully guaranteed. The team could decide to cut or trade the signal-caller, freeing them from his $17.97MM 2017 salary.
Buccaneers Promote Cameron Lynch, Waive Jeremy Butler
As the Buccaneers prepare for their Monday night matchup against the Panthers, they’ve made a minor roster move. According to Roy Cummings of WFLA News Channel 8 in Tampa Bay (via Twitter), the Bucs have promoted linebacker Cameron Lynch to the active roster. To make room on the roster, the team has waived wideout Jeremy Butler.
Lynch, a 2015 undrafted free agent out of Syracuse, spent last season with the Rams. The linebacker contributed mostly on special teams, collecting four tackles in 16 games. The 23-year-old was cut during the Rams’ final roster cuts, and he landed on the Buccaneers’ practice squad in mid-September. Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times notes (via Twitter) that the Bucs decided against promoting a defensive lineman, an indication that one of Robert Ayers, Noah Spence, or Clinton McDonald should be able to play on Monday.
The Buccaneers promoted Butler to the active roster earlier this week. The former undrafted free agent previously spent time with the Ravens, where he collected 31 receptions for 363 yards in eight games last season.
Josh Doctson Likely To Avoid IR
Redskins first-round receiver Josh Doctson didn’t play in today’s win against the Ravens, and he’s expected to be sidelined for several more weeks as he deals with an Achilles injury, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). However, Doctson is not expected to be placed on injured reserve.
[RELATED: Redskins Sign Donte Whitner]
Earlier this week, Washington head coach Jon Gruden didn’t rule out an eventual trip to IR for Doctson. We’ll have to wait and see if this thing gets any better the next week or so and go from there,” said Gruden. “I hate to put him on IR and then he’s better tomorrow, you know what I mean, because he’s such a valuable, big play type guy. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and see what happens.”
The 22nd overall pick in this year’s draft, Doctson has only managed to appear in two of the Redskins’ five games to this point. In those two contests, Doctson has hauled in two-of-six targets for 66 yards, but hasn’t found the end zone just yet. Washington isn’t wanting for wide receivers without Doctson, as the club still boasts DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, and Jamison Crowder.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lions TE Eric Ebron To Miss Several Weeks
Lions tight end Eric Ebron is expected to miss “a couple weeks” as he continues to deal with knee and ankle injuries, a source tells Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Justin Forsett To Visit Lions]
Earlier this year, Ebron gave a scare to Lions fans everywhere when he was carted off the field after suffering an injury. The early fear was that Ebron tore his Achilles, but it was apparently just an ankle injury of a lesser variety.
Ebron finished last season with 47 receptions for 537 yards and five touchdowns, all career highs for the former first-round pick expected to play a larger role for a Lions offense without Calvin Johnson this season. In four games this year, Ebron has soaked up 18 of 25 targets for 210 yards and one touchdown.
With Ebron sidelined, Detroit will lean on Khari Lee, Cole Wick, and the recently-signed Clay Harbor at the tight end spot.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
5 Key Stories: 10/2/16 – 10/9/16
Brady is back! After finally serving his four-game suspension for DeflateGate, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was officially activated for Sunday’s game against the Browns, becoming one of 14 NFL players to come off suspension this week. 
Brady reportedly won’t push the DeftlateGate matter any further, meaning that the issue appears to be finally concluded. One of the quarterbacks that helped out in Brady’s absence — third round-rookie Jacoby Brissett — is no longer on the active 53, as he’s been placed on injured reserve after undergoing thumb surgery.
Quarterback changes coming? 49ers head coach Chip Kelly left open the possibility of benching Blaine Gabbert after his putrid performance against the Cardinals on Thursday night. While some Niners players reportedly want Christian Ponder to start in Week 6, San Francisco will also consider Colin Kaepernick, who is apparently close to restructuring his contract with the club. Meanwhile, the Bears could opt to go with Brian Hoyer even after Jay Cutler returns from his thumb injury, as Cutler has fallen out of favor with Chicago coaches.
Big play Bene is no more. Just days after Julio Jones torched the Panthers for 300 yards, the club made a somewhat drastic move, waiving cornerback Bene Benwikere. Last year, Benwikere appeared in 13 games (four starts) before a broken leg shut him 
down for the season. In total, the cornerback had 59 tackles, nine pass deflections, and one sack on the year last year. This year, he had ten tackles and four passes defensed before being bounced by Carolina.
Ravens say goodbye to Forsett — for real this time. Baltimore had already released running back Justin Forsett prior to the season, but that was a procedural move that didn’t cost the veteran any money. This time around, however, Forsett is gone for good, as the Ravens’ running game is being turned over to Terrance West and rookie Kenneth Dixon. Forsett will meet with the Lions on Monday as he hunts for a new gig.
Rams and Cardinals admit mistakes. Just four games into a three-year contract, cornerback Coty Sensabaugh earned his walking papers from Los Angeles. Sensabaugh never graded highly in any advanced metrics, and his multi-year pact with the Rams was curious from the get-go, and the club ended up paying him $5.5MM for a quarter-season. Meanwhile, the Patriots cut bait with guard Jonathan Cooper, whom they acquired along with a second-round pick in exchange for edge rusher Chandler Jones.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
PFR Originals: 10/2/16 – 10/9/16
The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past week:
- 49ers head coach Chip Kelly left the door open for a quarterback change in Week 6, as Blaine Gabbert isn’t getting the job done in the Bay Area. With that in mind, Connor Byrne asked which signal-caller should start for San Francisco against the Bills next week. So far, Colin Kaepernick and Christian Ponder have each garnered about 45% of the vote.
- Zach Links rounded up the best of the football blogs in the latest edition of Pigskin Links.
Evan Mathis To Retire After Season?
Prior to signing a one-year pact with the Cardinals this offseason, guard Evan Mathis was contemplating retirement. He has enjoyed a long and successful career, he won a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos in 2015, and he has nothing left to prove. Ultimately, however, he decided to resume his career with Arizona.
But Mathis suffered an ankle injury during Thursday night’s win against San Francisco, and the team placed him on IR yesterday. Even if healthy, Mathis cannot be activated for at least eight games, and head coach Bruce Arians said earlier this week that the team is considering bringing either Chris Johnson or Tyvon Branch off IR. Of course, teams can only bring one player from IR back onto the active roster, so if Johnson or Branch were to return, Mathis could not come back.
As such, his career could be over. ESPN’s Adam Caplan asked Mathis about the possibility of playing next season, and Mathis replied, “I’m only going to play if someone lets me be a third down pass rusher” (Twitter link). Which means, obviously, that he does not currently plan on playing again.
Needless to say, a lot can change between now and the start of the 2017 season, but all of the reasons that made Mathis consider retirement earlier this year remain valid. The 34-year-old Alabama product has played in 134 regular season games since entering the league in 2005, starting 93 of them. He has been selected to two Pro Bowl squads and was named a First-Team All-Pro in 2013. After suiting up for the Panthers, Bengals, and Dolphins over the first half of his career, Mathis finally came into his own with the Eagles during his age-30 season and was a mainstay on Philadelphia’s offensive line from 2011-14. And, despite playing through various injuries for the Super Bowl champs last season, Mathis still graded as Pro Football Focus’ No. 1 run-blocking guard. PFF ranked him as the ninth-best run-blocking guard this year before he succumbed to injury.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
AFC Notes: Tannehill, Pryor, Siemian
Let’s take a look at some notes from the AFC as we wait for the early slate of Sunday’s games to get underway:
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald believes Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill is now entering the most important stretch of his career. He’s a fifth-year signal-caller playing under an offensive savant in head coach Adam Gase and facing an unprecedented 44-day homestand that features four eminently winnable games. If he cannot excel over the next month, it is difficult to believe that he will ever excel.
- We learned last week that the Patriots tried to trade for Terrelle Pryor prior to the 2015 season, but it does not appear that anyone other than the Browns will get to reap the rewards of Pryor’s success anytime soon. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Pryor is one of the only players that Cleveland will not consider trading as it continues to build for the future. Pryor is apparently pretty comfortable with the Browns, too, as he recently expressed his desire for a contract extension.
- Paxton Lynch may be starting for the Broncos this week, but James Palmer of the NFL Network confirms (via Twitter) what head coach Gary Kubiak has been saying all week: that Trevor Siemian‘s job is secure. Denver’s coaching staff understandably loves Siemian and hopes to have him ready for Thursday night’s tilt with San Diego.
- We heard reports earlier today that Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick would be playing for his job this afternoon against Pittsburgh and that the team was prepared to hand the starting job to Geno Smith if Fitzpatrick struggles. According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, however, head coach Todd Bowles is ignoring the calls for Fitz to be benched, though he realizes that the Harvard product must improve soon. Bowles said, “[Fitzpatrick] can’t put the game on his shoulders and try to be Superman. If it’s not there, it’s not there. Whether we take the sack or we throw it out of bounds or we punt and move on, ball security is what wins in this league. The big difference between last year’s first quarter and this year’s first quarter is that we got a ton of turnovers (in 2015). And this year, we gave up a bunch of turnovers.”
QB Notes: Kaepernick, Romo, Fitzpatrick
We learned earlier today that Brian Hoyer will remain the starter in Chicago if he continues to play well, regardless of Jay Cutler‘s health. Now let’s take a look at some other teams facing various types of quarterback dilemmas:
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com chimes in on the Colin Kaepernick situation, reporting that the 49ers are indeed mulling a move to pull starting quarterback Blaine Gabbert in favor of Kaepernick. Although head coach Chip Kelly has not yet had conversations with his full staff regarding his quarterback conundrum, he has had informal, exploratory discussions about making a move. There are, of course, several factors that could influence Kelly’s decision, including Kaepernick’s contract situation–a restructured deal would make San Francisco more willing to put No. 7 on the field–and his health. Although Kaepernick is not yet back to his normal playing weight, his arm at least is back to full strength, and he appears more at ease with his teammates then he has in years past. He does not consistently outperform Gabbert in practice, but at this point, a change probably makes sense and could happen soon.
- Despite a great deal of discussion to the contrary, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that there is “zero chance” the Cowboys will start Dak Prescott over a healthy Tony Romo. Romo remains on track to return for the team’s Week 8 matchup against Philadelphia, and the Cowboys believe a healthy Romo will help open up the offense. Although Prescott has played well and is viewed as the quarterback of the future, the Cowboys are running a constricted version of the offense for him, allowing him to be something of a game manager (he has attempted just seven passes that have traveled 20 yards or more in the air). So far all the talk that Romo would become Dallas’ answer to Wally Pipp, that does not appear to be the case.
- In a separate piece, La Canfora writes that the Jets have seen enough of Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s turnover issues and that Gang Green is prepared to make a change if Fitz does not reverse the trend immediately. La Canfora says that Fitzpatrick is essentially playing for his job against Pittsburgh this week, and with Geno Smith showing some signs of life in practice, the team would not be averse to handing the reins to Smith if Fitzpatrick struggles against the Steelers (the Jets believe that neither Bryce Petty nor Christian Hackenberg is ready to become the next young quarterback to take the league by storm).
- Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer believes that, if Robert Griffin III is able to play again this season, the Browns will give him a chance, regardless of how Cody Kessler is performing at that point (unless, of course, Kessler is playing at an Aaron Rodgers level). However, it is unlikely that RGIII will be healthy enough to return this year, so Cleveland will probably not have to make that decision.
Latest On Jay Cutler, Brian Hoyer
Jay Cutler is nearing a return from his thumb injury, but he may not have a job to come back to, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. Brian Hoyer has played reasonably well in Cutler’s absence, leading the Bears to a victory over division-rival Detroit last week, and La Canfora reports that Cutler has fallen out of favor with some on the coaching staff. He writes, “There were some heated words exchanged between coaches following Cutler’s last appearance, sources said, about whether he should have been out of that game sooner, and Cutler’s status in the Bears’ locker room has long been under debate.”
This report jives with head coach John Fox‘s comments earlier this week, when he stated that Hoyer will remain the starter if he continues to play well. And with the Jaguars and Colts next on the docket for the Bears, there is a good chance that Hoyer will indeed continue to play well, at least for the next several weeks. While Hoyer will never be the type of quarterback that can take a team to the promised land, at this point he appears to be just as effective as Cutler, and he comes at a fraction of the cost.
After all, although Cutler is signed through 2020, he has no more guaranteed money left on his deal after this season, so it will be easy for Fox and GM Ryan Pace–who inherited Cutler from the prior regime–to release Cutler and begin the search for a long-term solution under center while using a quarterback like Hoyer as a placeholder.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com lends support to La Canfora’s story, tweeting that, “This is Brian Hoyer’s job to win. If he continues to thrive, he’ll start. Door is open.” Barring some sort of unexpected turnaround, then, it appears that Cutler will not be Chicago much longer. To paraphrase a Chicago Tribune story from several weeks ago, the end of Jay Cutler’s tenure with the Bears feels as real as it ever has.
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