Bengals’ Eifert Won’t Make Debut On Sunday
We’ll have to wait a little longer to see Tyler Eifert make his on-field debut in 2016. The Bengals officially ruled out the tight end for Sunday’s contest against the Cowboys. 
Eifert missed the Bengals’ first four games of the season because of an ankle injury, and just as he was set to return this Sunday, a back problem came to the fore Wednesday to put his status in question. Various injuries have limited Eifert to just 28 of the Bengals’ 52 regular-season games since they drafted him 21st overall in 2013. The ex-Notre Dame star broke out last season with 52 catches and 13 touchdowns and the team was hoping to see more of the same from him this year.
Through four games, the Bengals are 2-2 with wins over the Jets and Dolphins and losses to the Steelers and Broncos. The Bengals will hope to get their best tight end back for Sunday Oct. 23 against the Browns, but nothing is guaranteed with Eifert at this point.
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Vikings To Place Andre Smith On IR?
Andre Smith has an elbow injury and it might end his season. The tackle’s injury is keeping him out of practice today and the team believes that it might be severe enough to warrant placing him on IR, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
The Vikings, unfortunately, have been wrecked by injuries this year. The first big blow came late in the summer when Teddy Bridgewater suffered a severe knee injury. Then, a torn meniscus knocked Adrian Peterson out for a minimum of two months and potentially for the entire season. Now, Minnesota might lose another starter in Smith.
Smith came to the Vikings on a one-year, $3.5MM deal. Smith, the sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft, was the Bengals’ starting right tackle for several seasons, making 73 starts in Cincinnati since first joining the club seven years ago. Although he has been a steady performer throughout his career, the 29-year-old became expendable in Cincinnati after the Bengals used their first two picks in the 2015 draft on offensive tackles.
Through one month of NFL football, the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus have Smith ranked as just the 69th best tackle out of 75 qualified players. Meanwhile, fellow Vikings tackle Jeremiah Sirles is rated No. 32.
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Panthers Cut Bene Benwikere
Days after having a rough outing against Julio Jones, the Panthers have decided to cut starting cornerback Bene Benwikere, a source tells Tom Pelissero of USA Today (on Twitter). Benwikere did not look sharp against the Falcons, but he did earn himself a starting job and had an interception in the team’s season opener. His release comes as a surprise and he will likely be claimed by another team.
Last year, “Big Play Bene” 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.
On Oct. 2, Jones caught 12 passes for 300 yards and one touchdown. It was fair to assume that they would make some kind of change, but few expected them to bounce Benwikere.
In a related move, cornerback Zack Sanchez has been signed from the p-squad.
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Chiefs Sign LB Sio Moore
The Chiefs have signed linebacker Sio Moore, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Moore was cut by the Colts earlier this week. 
Moore suffered a significant hamstring injury this summer which held him back in practice. He healed up from that injury, but he was unable to impress in the first month of this season with Indianapolis. He was cut on Tuesday after amassing 25 total tackles and five assisted tackles.
In two seasons with the Raiders and one season and change with the Colts, Moore has appeared in 42 games with 26 starts. He had 4.5 sacks as a rookie and 3.0 sacks in his sophomore year, but he has been unable to replicate those numbers in the past couple of years.
To make room, KC cut linebacker Dezman Moses.
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Ravens Place Maxx Williams On IR
The Ravens announced that they have placed tight end Maxx Williams on injured reserve. Williams has been dealing with a knee injury that will likely require surgery. 
Under the new IR rules, players can return to action after eight weeks on the list. However, this is probably a season-ender for Williams since its sounds like he is going under the knife. The team has yet to make a corresponding move, but they could activate tight end Darren Waller to the 53-man roster, according to the team website. Waller is set to return from a four-game suspension this week. The team also recently brought up tight end Daniel Brown, so they may not opt for another player at that position.
Williams’ knee injury was manageable until he aggravated it in Sunday’s contest against the Raiders. A second-round pick in 2015, Williams set franchise rookie tight end records last year with 32 receptions for 268 yards and one touchdown. Now, Baltimore will have to wait until next year to see him on the field again.
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Cowboys Promote Jameill Showers, Will Play S
This offseason, the Cowboys decided against trading for a veteran backup quarterback because of their confidence in rookie Dak Prescott and second-year QB Jameill Showers. It turns out that they like Showers a lot, but not necessarily as a signal caller. Showers is being promoted from the practice squad to the 53-man roster as a strong safety and special teams player, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
Showers missed the Cowboys’ initial 53-man cut but he was quickly signed to the practice squad. This week, Showers was spotted practicing with the Cowboys’ defensive backs and it appears that it was more than a one-off experiment. The athletic 6’2″ Texas A&M/UTEP product will now try his hand at a new position.
Showers will now wear No. 28 instead of the No. 7 he donned as a QB.
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49ers Open To Starting Colin Kaepernick?
Could Colin Kaepernick once again serve as the 49ers’ starting quarterback? After Blaine Gabbert‘s poor showing against the Cardinals on Thursday night, it’s certainly possible. For the first time since the season started, coach Chip Kelly left the door open to a possible QB change, as Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News tweets. That change could take place before the Niners travel to Buffalo on Oct. 16. 
[RELATED: 49ers LB NaVorro Bowman Done For Season]
It’s only October, but the Niners’ season clearly isn’t moving in the right direction. At 1-4, the 49ers’ offense is averaging 290.3 yards per game, the second lowest in the NFL. In terms of passing, they’re dead last with 175.4 yards per contest. Something has to change, and that change just might happen under center.
Of course, the 49ers’ issues go far beyond the quarterback position. San Francisco’s offensive line gave up seven sacks to the Cardinals’ defense last night and Colin Kaepernick won’t be able to do much with that kind of protection, even if he recaptures his old form. The O-Line situation only got worse when Anthony Davis opted to retire (again) late last month.
It will be interesting to see how a potential quarterback change could impact the team’s plans going forward. Gabbert is scheduled to hit the open market after this season. Kaepernick’s contract could be terminated with little penalty, but the Niners could also retain him through 2020 if they wish.
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Extra Points: 49ers, Bengals, Jets, Cowboys
49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman is done for the season with a torn Achilles, but the 28-year-old doesn’t expect the injury to have long-term effects. “It’s just a minor setback for a major comeback,” he said Thursday (via Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com). It’s the second catastrophic injury over the past three years for Bowman, who previously tore both his ACL and MCL in the 49ers’ NFC title game loss to Seattle in January 2014. Bowman returned last year to improbably earn first-team All-Pro honors for the fourth time on the strength of an NFL-best 154-tackle campaign.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Tight end Tyler Eifert‘s health (or lack thereof) for the rest of the year will determine how extension talks between him and the Bengals go during the offseason, writes Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Eifert missed the Bengals’ first four games of the season because of an ankle injury, and just as he was set to return this Sunday, a back problem came to the fore Wednesday to put his status in question. Various injuries have limited Eifert to just 28 of the Bengals’ 52 regular-season games since they drafted him 21st overall in 2013. The ex-Notre Dame star broke out last season with 52 catches and 13 touchdowns, making a case for big money in the process, but Eifert’s injury history could give Cincinnati pause. Luckily for the Bengals, Eifert’s still under their control next season by way of his fifth-year option, so they still have time to decide whether to make a long-term commitment.
- Contrary to a Wednesday report, the Jets are not considering placing wide receiver Eric Decker on injured reserve, head coach Todd Bowles said Thursday (via Brian Costello of the New York Post). However, Bowles and Decker disagree on whether the wideout is progressing from the partially torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. Bowles told Costello that he hasn’t seen any progress, while Decker said he’s improving each day. Either way, Decker is likely to miss time – albeit an undetermined amount – and may eventually need surgery. “It has been a discussion,” Decker said. “Again, that’s something that, down the road, we’ll have the conversation again and look at it again. They’ll let me know the right thing to do.”
- Aldrick Rosas will be among the kickers auditioning for the Cowboys on Friday, Charean Williams of the Star Telegram tweets. Rosas, formerly of Southern Oregon, signed with the Titans after this year’s draft. They cut him Sept. 2.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Chargers To Promote CB Trevor Williams
The Chargers will promote cornerback Trevor Williams from their practice squad in advance of Sunday’s game against the Raiders, a source told Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The 1-3 Bolts are banged up at corner, which could pose a problem in trying to stop the AFC West rival Raiders (3-1) and their high-flying attack.
In addition to Jason Verrett, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 4, the Chargers are dealing with injuries to Brandon Flowers and Craig Mager. Flowers missed the Chargers’ 35-34 loss to the Saints last Sunday with a concussion and hasn’t practiced this week, while a shoulder injury limited Mager on Thursday.
With Verrett, Flowers and Mager ailing, the door is now open for Williams to make his NFL debut. The Chargers signed Williams as an undrafted free agent from Penn State on April 30. After Williams failed to make San Diego’s final roster on Sept. 3, he quickly joined its practice squad. Williams intercepted five passes in his three years with the Nittany Lions and was an All-Big Ten honorable mention in both 2014 and 2015.
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NFC North Notes: Bears, Jeffery, Lions, Ansah
The latest on the NFC North’s two 1-3 clubs:
- Bears receiver Kevin White‘s injury troubles could make it more difficult for the club to let fellow wideout Alshon Jeffery leave as a free agent after the season, Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times observes. White, whom the Bears chose seventh overall in the 2015 draft, missed all of last season with a tibial stress fracture and is now on injured reserve after suffering a high ankle sprain and a fractured fibula in Week 4. Jeffery, meanwhile, is raking in $14.6MM as Chicago’s franchise player after it was unable to reach a long-term deal with him in the offseason. The Bears will once again have the option of tagging Jeffery after this season, or they could either reach a long-term pact with the fifth-year standout or allow him to hit the open market. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report said in July that one reason the Bears drafted White was so they could avoid signing Jeffery to a lucrative contract, but the former’s inability to stay on the field might put a wrench in that plan.
- The Lions are unlikely to have either defensive end Ziggy Ansah or tight end Eric Ebron against 3-0 Philadelphia on Sunday, reports ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Michael Rothstein). Ansah has missed the majority of the season since succumbing to a high ankle sprain early in Week 2, thus depriving Detroit of its best pass rusher. Ebron, who banged up his knee and ankle in the Lions’ 17-14 loss in Chicago last Sunday, has played through multiple injuries this season. The 23-year-old has been productive, though, as he ranks third on the Lions in receptions (18) and second in yards (210).
- Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan is progressing well since going down with a thumb injury in Week 2 and has a chance to return Sunday against the Colts, he said after practicing Thursday with a cast on his right hand (via Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com). “I led the SEC two years in a row in tackles at Kentucky with a cast on [to protect a wrist injury], so I’m pretty familiar [with playing with one],” the former Bronco stated. “I’m not very limited with the cast. It’s specially made, but I’m just trying to do everything I can to be out there with my teammates come Sunday.” Trevathan is among several key Bears who have missed this time this year, which has contributed to their poor start.