Vikings To Stick With Keenum At Atlanta
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer told reporters Case Keenum will receive another start when the team travels to take on the Falcons, Courtney Cronin of ESPN reports. 
Despite throwing for at least 280 yards in four consecutive games and riding a six-game win streak as the starter, the veteran quarterback’s status as the No. 1 signal-caller is on a week-to-week basis. Though Teddy Bridgewater is on his way back from his long hiatus, it would make no sense to pull one of the league’s hottest quarterbacks in favor of someone who hasn’t played in almost two years.
Since starting in a 23-10 win over Green Bay in Week 6, Keenum has posted a 95.4 passer rating and thrown for 1,581 yards and 10 touchdowns. With the Vikings battling for home-field advantage in the postseason, don’t expect a change under center anytime soon unless Keenum has a misstep in the coming weeks.
AFC East Notes: Cooks, Dolphins, McCown
Brandin Cooks has made the successful transition from Drew Brees‘ top deep threat to Tom Brady‘s, not that it was in too much doubt this could happen. As a result, Cooks would like to extend his Patriots stay far into the future. The fourth-year wide receiver said, via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, he would “absolutely” like to play the rest of his career in New England. Multiple obvious caveats come with this statement, though. The first being Cooks’ contract runs through the 2018 season, via the fifth-year option the Pats picked up. After that, it will probably take a high-end WR1 contract to keep Cooks in the Boston area. And the Patriots have not exactly been the kind of team that doles those out. Secondly, Brady’s age naturally makes it a year-to-year proposition the Patriots have a dominant passing game. But for now, Cooks likes where he’s stationed. He’s on pace for another 1,100-plus-yard season, with the 786 he’s at actually putting him on track for a career-high figure.
Here’s more from the AFC East.
- The Dolphins might have to again turn to Matt Moore on Sunday. Jay Cutler remains in concussion protocol. But the team hopes its starter is cleared Friday or Saturday, with Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reporting (on Twitter) Cutler is on track to face the Patriots. Cutler hasn’t been able to practice much this week, but Adam Gase said he would feel comfortable putting the 34-year-old passer out there because he’s a veteran, Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald notes. Moore has played well in relief of Cutler twice this season but bombed in a 40-0 loss to the Ravens as a starter. Miami’s backup did fare better as a starter in 2016, however.
- On the Cutler subject, Salguero writes no one in the Dolphins organization pushed back hard enough against Gase’s wishes to bring in the polarizing passer. And while Cutler may not be on Miami’s roster next season, his $10MM contract cost the Dolphins some potential cap-carryover money. Thanks to a roster that has two quarterbacks making eight-figure salaries, the Dolphins have less than $1MM to carry over, and Salguero points out the team passing on Cutler would have made it possible to carry at least $7MM over into 2018.
- In the expansive piece judging the Fins’ offseason moves, Salguero writes that Lawrence Timmons and Julius Thomas will likely be cut. And Mike Pouncey won’t be automatic to see a seventh Miami season. The Dolphins can save $7MM by cutting Pouncey, who says he’s playing with a damaged hip, in 2018.
- Josh McCown has made more starts in 2017 than he has in all but two seasons. The Jets quarterback looks set to eclipse his previous single-season high (13 with the 20o4 Cardinals), keeping Christian Hackenberg off the field. But as Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News observes, this productive age-38 season has cost the Jets long-term. McCown’s one-year contract might have been too good an investment since will have the Jets out of franchise-quarterback territory come draft time. Gang Green would pick 12th if the season ended today.
Panthers To Activate Greg Olsen, Place Curtis Samuel On IR
The Panthers’ passing game will be getting its skill-position centerpiece back. Greg Olsen will be activated in advance of Carolina’s Week 12 game against the Jets, Ron Rivera said Friday (via Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer, on Twitter).
Curtis Samuel will go on IR to make room on the roster.
Olsen has been out since Week 2 because of a fractured foot. The veteran tight end returned to practice just this week. The Panthers had a bye in Week 11. But after losing Samuel, the team will deploy another key pass-catcher — and its most reliable weapon of the past few seasons.
Olsen reeled off three straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2014-16, so the NFC South-contending team will be better suited to challenge the Saints now that the Pro Bowl pass-catcher is back in the mix.
Samuel finished his rookie season with 19 touches for 179 yards from scrimmage. He became a bigger part of the offense after the Kelvin Benjamin trade.
Jalen Ramsey Injures Hand In Practice
The Jaguars are contending for the AFC South title and, if things go awry at the top of the AFC, a first-round bye. And the defensive-powered team looks to have lost one of its top players because of an injury sustained at practice.
Jalen Ramsey suffered a hand injury Friday during Jacksonville’s workout, Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com tweets, adding that Ramsey is questionable for Sunday against the Cardinals.
However, the talented cornerback may be closer to doubtful. When asked if he would play in Week 12, Ramsey said, “No,” per DiRocco (on Twitter). Ramsey has not missed a game in his two-year career, starting all 26 for which he’s suited up as a Jaguar.
Should the cornerback be unable to go, Aaron Colvin would likely move into the starting lineup. Journeyman Tyler Patmon and seventh-round rookie Jalen Myrick are the other corners on the Jacksonville roster.
While the assignment isn’t as strenuous as it would have been under ordinary circumstances, with Blaine Gabbert returning to Jacksonville as Arizona’s starter rather than Carson Palmer or Drew Stanton, the Jaguars have received quality work from Ramsey and would obviously be weakened without him.
Chargers Fear Mike Williams Will Miss Time
Just as the Chargers are making a serious push to do something no non-Chargers team has done since the AFL-NFL merger — make the playoffs after starting 0-4 — their first-round pick has encountered familiar trouble.
Mike Williams left Thursday’s game with a knee injury, and while this is a different malady than the back ailment that shelved the talented pass-catcher for much of the offseason and into the early portion of his rookie slate, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter) the team is concerned about Williams’ setback.
Williams will undergo an MRI on Friday, per Rapoport, who adds the Chargers are worried he will miss game time. That said, the team believes as of now Williams did not damage his ACL during the Bolts’ Thanksgiving Day win over the Cowboys.
The Clemson product who missed most of the 2015 season with a neck injury has been eased into his run with the Chargers. He’s played in six games and has only been targeted 15 times, catching nine passes for 84 yards. The Bolts are deep at wide receiver, though, with Tyrell Williams and Travis Benjamin also supplementing Keenan Allen.
Jets Sign Lucky Whitehead To P-Squad
The Jets eyed Lucky Whitehead as their return man coming into this season, but the former Cowboys specialist broke his foot to nix that idea.
However, Whitehead appears to have healed up and will return to the Jets as part of their practice squad, the team announced. The Jets waived linebacker Jeremy Cash to make room on the 10-man unit.
Whitehead ventured to the Jets’ facility for a visit earlier this month, and that looks to have sparked a reunion. The third-year wide receiver/return man suffered the broken foot in August and was waived with an injury settlement in September as the Jets organized their regular-season roster.
Dallas used Whitehead as its primary return man from 2015-16, but a case of mistaken identity induced a split between the parties earlier this year. The Jets then claimed him on waivers. The Jets are currently without punt returner Jeremy Kerley due to suspension.
Jerry Jones Says Jason Garrett’s Job Is Safe
Mired in a season-defining swoon since Ezekiel Elliott‘s suspension went into effect, the Cowboys are on the verge of slinking out of the NFC race. It would mark the fifth time in Jason Garrett‘s seven seasons the team missed the playoffs.
But Jerry Jones did not mince words when asked about his head coach’s job security. The owner said the HC spot is not being evaluated despite the three consecutive blowout losses — two of those on national television.
“Again, I don’t step out of the dressing room and evaluate the coaching position at all,” Jones said, via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). “Candidly, and I don’t even want to say it so that somebody might repeat it. Absolutely not.”
Jones had a closed-door meeting with the team after its 28-6 loss to the Chargers
Garrett is the longest-tenured coach in Jones’ 28-year tenure running the franchise, having taken over during the 2010 season. He’s 63-52 in charge of the Cowboys. Wade Phillips received 3 1/2 seasons despite two of those ending in the playoffs. Jimmy Johnson coached five, although that run would have obviously been extended based solely on the team’s on-field performance.
Garrett’s teams, though, have won more playoff games (two) than any Cowboys coach since Barry Switzer. And they finished with fewer than eight wins in a season just once, the 2015 slate when Tony Romo went down, under Garrett’s guidance.
While Garrett’s status could certainly change if this run of routs persists, the eighth-year Dallas coach looks to be safe from a late-season firing.
Zack Martin Enters Concussion Protocol
The Cowboys will be playing at least the rest of this game and possibly more without the services of maybe the best guard in football. Zack Martin is now in concussion protocol.
Longtime backup Joe Looney replaced the All-Pro right guard in the lineup. Martin left the game in the second quarter. The fourth-year interior stalwart has never missed an NFL game.
This comes just as Tyron Smith returned to the lineup after a two-game absence. The Cowboys, who rode to the NFC’s No. 1 seed last season behind Ezekiel Elliott and a bulldozing offense line, are now reeling after injuries, departures and a suspension depleted that unit.
Martin does not have the usual 10-day recovery period following a Thursday game. The Cowboys face the Redskins next Thursday.
Dallas is down 16-0 in the fourth quarter and in danger of falling 1.5 games off the wild-card pace in the NFC with a loss to Los Angeles.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/23/17
The AFC South leaders made a Thanksgiving Day adjustment to their taxi squad.
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: K Mike Meyer
- Cut: G Brandon Thomas
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/23/17
Here are the Thanksgiving Day moves.
Chicago Bears
- Signed: LB Howard Jones
Kansas City Chiefs
- Waived: DL Cam Thomas