Redskins TE Jordan Reed Suffers Injury
Redskins tight end Jordan Reed went to Charlotte to see a specialist about his toe injury, head coach Jay Gruden announced. There is currently no timetable for his return. 
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When he’s on the field and mostly healthy, Reed is one of the game’s most dynamic tight ends. Unfortunately, injuries have set Reed back throughout his career. Most notably, the 27-year-old has dealt with concussion issues as well as a separated shoulder that sidelined him late in the 2016 season. The team was hoping that his toe issue would clear up quickly, but one can’t help but wonder if this latest ailment could cost him time in 2017.
Reed earned his first Pro Bowl nod last year as he recorded 66 catches for 686 yards and six scores. The Redskins are counting on him more than ever this year after losing both Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson to free agency.
The Redskins have depth at tight end, but Vernon Davis and Niles Paul do not offer the same kind of elite athleticism as the 6’3″, 237 pound Reed. The presence of fifth-round pick Jeremy Sprinkle also gives the team some additional padding, but they’ll be at a distinct disadvantage if they are without Reed to start the season.
Ravens’ Crockett Gillmore Done For Season
Ravens tight end Crockett Gillmore had surgery on his MCL and is likely going to miss the season, the team announced. Gillmore’s recovery timetable is five months, meaning that he cannot realistically think about getting back on the field until 2018. 
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The Ravens were hoping that Gillmore would only need a “trim” to his meniscus rather than a full repair. A trim could have allowed Gillmore to return mid-season, but the severity of his tear left him with only one option.
The Ravens signed former Giants tight end Larry Donnell earlier this week, giving them a bit of extra padding at tight end. So far this offseason, the position has been ravaged by injuries and other events. Dennis Pitta was cut after suffering a likely career-ending injury and Darren Waller is suspended for the full season. Maxx Williams and Ben Watson, meanwhile, are recovering from injuries of their own.
Gillmore, 25, had 33 catches for 412 yards and four touchdowns in 2015. Last year, back and knee injuries limited him to just seven games.
Ryan Clady Retires From NFL
Ryan Clady is walking away from football. The offensive tackle took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon to announce his retirement. 
“Despite having several teams who are currently interested in signing me, I have made a very difficult decision to retire from my NFL playing career. I have deliberated on this decision thoroughly until now because I wanted to see if the beginning of NFL training camps would inspire the passion that I need to perform at the standards that I established for myself during my nine-year NFL career,” Clady wrote. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank my family, my friends, and my representation for all of their support through the years. I would also like to thank all of my coaches, teammates, and fans for their support throughout my football career at all levels. I would especially like to thank Mr. Pat Bowlen and the Denver Broncos organization for bringing me into the NFL. I was blessed to experience eight great years, four Pro Bowls, and a World Championship with that organization. I am excited about what life holds for me going forward.”
Clady first entered the league as a first round draft pick of the Broncos in 2008. He went on to earn four Pro Bowl nods and two First-Team All-Pro selections. Unfortunately, a torn ACL suffered prior to the 2015 season sidetracked his career. Clady wound up missing the entire campaign and he was traded to the Jets in the spring of 2016. After a so-so season, Clady has opted to begin the next chapter of his professional life.
Clady’s only known offseason visit was a meeting with the Seahawks in March.
Seahawks, Kam Chancellor Agree To Deal
The Seahawks and safety Kam Chancellor have agreed to a sizable extension. It’s a three-year deal worth $36MM, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The pact includes $25MM guaranteed, though his full guarantee will almost certainly be less than that. 
Chancellor was scheduled to earn a base salary of $6.8MM and count for ~$8.125MM against the cap in 2017 before becoming a free agent next spring. The safety has been pushing for a better contract ever since 2015 when he held out until Week 3 of the season, but it took a while for the two sides to find common ground this summer. Just six weeks ago, head coach Pete Carroll said that talks were not active between the two sides:
“We would very much like to work something out,” Carroll said. “We’re working at it. And that’s really all we’ll say. But we are working at it with every intention of taking care of business. It takes awhile. Things take awhile. His frame of mind and our frame of mind are in a really good place. And we’re going to work hard to get something done. We’ll see if we can.”
With an average annual value of $12MM on his new deal, Chancellor is now the third-highest paid player on the team, behind only Russell Wilson ($21.75MM per season) and cornerback Richard Sherman ($14MM per season). The Seahawks have done an impeccable job of keeping their core together over the years and they have now bought themselves at least a year before they have to stress over new deals for Sherman and Earl Thomas. Both players are under contract through 2018.
The 29-year-old Chancellor started 12 games in 2016, playing on roughly two-thirds of Seattle’s defensive snaps while grading as the league’s No. 3 safety, per Pro Football Focus. There’s no doubt that he is an elite player at his position and the new deal reflects his standing in the NFL. The deal will also allow him to retire as a member of the Seahawks, something that he has said is extremely important to him.
AFC Notes: Patriots, Freeney, Bengals, Iloka
Now that defensive end Rob Ninkovich has officially retired, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com wonders if the Patriots might consider signing free agent edge defender Dwight Freeney. Freeney, 37, is arguably the best pass rusher left on the market, and New England doesn’t have a true edge bender on its roster (Trey Flowers earned the highest pass-rushing grade from Pro Football Focus last season with a 76.8 mark). As Reiss notes, the Patriots brought Freeney in for a visit prior to the 2013 campaign, but oddly didn’t discuss a potential deal. Freeney indicated last month that he intends to continue his career in 2017.
Here’s more from the AFC:
- Bengals safety George Iloka is expected to miss three-to-four weeks after suffering a knee sprain Sunday, according to Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The diagnosis could have been worse, as Iloka went down with a non-contract injury (typically indicative of a torn ACL), but the five-year veteran didn’t suffer any ligament tears, a source tells Owczarski. While Iloka will likely be sidelined for the preseason, he should be ready by the time Week 1 rolls around. If not, Derron Smith would step into the starting lineup.
- Erik Walden‘s one-year. deal with Titans is worth up to $3.25MM, Terry McCormick of Titan Insider tweets. The deal includes a $1.35MM base, a $300K signing bonus, a $1.1MM roster bonus, and $500K in incentives. It’s a decent package for Walden considering the tepid market he was met with this offseason. Meanwhile, the Titans are making only a small investment in a player who recorded 11.0 sacks in 2016.
- You can cross Robert Griffin III off of the Ravens‘ list.
Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.
Giants Sign K Mike Nugent
The Giants signed veteran kicker Mike Nugent, according to a team announcement. Nugent will duke it out with Aldrick Rosas for the team’s kicking job. 
The Giants have been talking up Rosas all offseason, so it’s a bit of a surprise to see them sign a kicker just days into training camp. Rosas has no regular season experience whereas Nugent is a 13-year vet who has appeared in 158 regular season and postseason games. The 35-year-old has the rare distinction of being a kicker who was chosen with a second round pick. Although he was not able to justify his placement in the draft, Nugent has been a reliable leg, by and large.
Nugent, the owner of 22 school records at Ohio State, will now square off with a second-year player for the right to serve as the Giants’ kicker.
Raiders’ Gareon Conley Won’t Face Charges
Raiders rookie Gareon Conley will not face charges stemming from his infamous pre-draft hotel romp, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) has learned. A grand jury convened on Monday to discuss Conley’s case and returned with a “no bill.” 
“He is vindicated. He looks forward to contributing in the National Football League,” attorney Kevin Spellacy said.
Heading into the draft, Conley was considered a potential top ten pick. However, days before the big day in late April, he was accused of sexual misconduct in an Ohio hotel room. Some clubs backed away from drafting Conley as they investigated the situation, but the Raiders felt that he was too good of a value to pass up at No. 24 overall. The cornerback has vigorously maintained his innocence throughout the process and the Raiders drafted Conley with the belief that he would not face charges.
Conley will not face a potential suspension from the NFL since the event in question took place before he was drafted. Barring something unexpected, the Raiders will have Conley in uniform for Week 1.
Jaguars Can Recoup Branden Albert Bonus
If Branden Albert stays retired, the Jaguars have the right to recoup $3.4MM in signing bonus from the left tackle, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
Jacksonville absorbed Albert’s base salaries when it acquired him from the Miami earlier this year, but — as with any trade — Albert’s prorated bonus money stayed with his original club, with the Dolphins taking on $3.4MM in accelerated dead money. Despite that, Albert’s rights, and the rights to any forfeited money, transferred to the Jaguars as part of the swap with the Dolphins, as Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap explains (Twitter link).
In sum, the Jaguars will never actually pay Albert a dime of his 2017-18 base salaries, which would have totaled $18.45MM. Instead, provided Albert stays retired, they’ll pick up $3.4MM in cash (not cap space). Plus, Jacksonville won’t even lose the 2018 seventh-round pick it sent to the Dolphins — because Albert wasn’t on the Jacksonville roster for at least three games, Miami was forced to return the draft choice, reports Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union.
Contract squabbles between the Jaguars and Albert are nothing new, as the veteran blindside protector held out for a new deal soon after being traded to Jacksonville. General manager Dave Caldwell & Co. refused to rework Albert’s pact (with, hypothetically, could have played a role in his retirement), and Albert eventually reported to camp.
Packers DT Montravius Adams To Miss Time
Packers rookie defensive tackle Montravius Adams suffered a stress fracture in his foot and is expected to require a screw inserted, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). While Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy announced Adams will miss “several weeks,” Rapoport indicates Adams will be hard-pressed to be available for the start of the 2017 regular season.
Adams, the 93rd overall pick of the draft, had been expected to compete for a rotational role along the Packers’ defensive line. Clearly, that could still happen at some point later in the season, but it will be exceedingly difficult for Adams to register playing time without having had the benefit of a rookie training camp and preseason.
Adams has already practiced this year, so he isn’t eligible for the physically unable to perform list. If Green Bay wants to stash Adams without having him count towards the roster count, it will have to place him on injured reserve, and then designate him as one of two players to return from IR following an eight-week absence.
The Packers were already fairly thin along the defensive interior, especially considering that Letroy Guion will be suspended for the first four games of the season. While reserves such as Ricky Jean-Francois or Christian Ringo could potentially slide to nose tackle, Green Bay could conceivably consider outside additions. Dan Williams, Jared Odrick, Arthur Jones, and Vance Walker are the best interior lineman on the free agent market, though not all are cut out to play one-technique.
No Ezekiel Elliott Announcement This Week
The NFL will not announce a suspension for Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott this week, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link), who reports the league is still waiting for the four external advisors who attended Elliott’s meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell to complete their work.
A league announcement on Elliott’s suspension has been expected for some time, but the timeline of the implementation has been continually pushed back. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has repeatedly stated that he expects a decision on Elliott to be handed down soon, but no news was disseminated over the weekend, and now Dallas must wait until next week (at least) until it learns whether it will be without its star running back.
The NFL is reportedly wrapping up its investigation into Elliott, but Jones stood behind Elliott when addressing the media earlier this month. “I have reviewed everything and there is absolutely nothing – not one thing – that had anything to do with domestic violence,” Jones said. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com recently reported a “growing sense” that Elliott will face a league-imposed suspension. Elliott was never arrested or charged in the incident, but his accuser addressed her allegations in a statement last week.