AFC Notes: Luck, Fournette, Watson
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (video link) says no one is exactly sure what the future holds for Colts QB Andrew Luck, who was recently placed on IR and ruled out for the remainder of the year. Per Rapoport, Luck has met with at least four doctors and has been advised that he should not throw for two to three months, though surgery is not in the cards at this point. Rapoport says all indications are that Luck will be healthy for the start of 2018, but Alex Marvez of Sporting News is not so optimistic. Because of the way the Colts publicly handled the situation, Marvez does not put much stock in reports that Luck will be ready to go by the start of 2018 — especially since he still cannot throw without soreness 10 months after surgery — and he says Indianapolis is facing the possibility of Luck never playing again at a high level and being on the hook for $87 million in salary guaranteed against injury. Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com tweets that Luck will be reevaluated in December, and that the Colts are “not ignoring” the 2018 QB draft class.
On that sobering note, let’s take a look at more rumors from around the AFC:
- The Colts claim that cornerback Vontae Davis is out for today’s game due to non-injury reasons, but Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk hears that is actually a cover-up for the fact that the Colts have not disclosed Davis’ lingering groin injury in recent weeks. Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star says there is more to Davis’ absence than the team is letting on, but he believes Davis’ absence is due to personal reasons and is not injury-related.
- Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette was deactivated for today’s game against the Bengals, and Jay Glazer of FOX Sports tweets that the star rookie missed treatment, a workout, and a team photo this week, which led to his benching. Head coach Doug Marrone is clearly trying to change the culture in Jacksonville, though Jags fans have to hope it doesn’t come at the expense of the team’s playoff push.
- Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets that Texans QB Deshaun Watson is expected to miss eight to nine months as a result of his ACL tear, though the last time he tore his ACL, he missed only five months, so Houston is hopeful for a shorter timeline.
- Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports says Broncos QB Paxton Lynch is under consideration to start in the team’s Week 10 matchup against New England, but Mike Klis of 9News.com says (via Twitter) that report is inaccurate. Klis reports that Lynch is not yet physically ready and that Brock Osweiler will keep the job if he plays well.
- As La Canfora writes in a separate piece, there are some Browns coaches who believe GM Sashi Brown intentionally scuttled the team’s near trade for A.J. McCarron, presumably because he believed the cost (a second- and third-round draft choice) was too high. Even if Brown is right about that, his efforts to intentionally sabotage the trade represent a massive breach of protocol and will only intensify the much-discussed rift between the team’s coaching staff and front office. But even if Brown did not act duplicitously, and even if the botched trade was simply due to human error, the fact that the coaching staff thinks Brown intentionally nixed the deal suggests things have gone beyond the point of no return in Cleveland.
More Jimmy Garoppolo Fallout
Since the 49ers traded a 2018 second-round pick to the Patriots in exchange for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, it has been widely assumed that San Francisco views Garoppolo as its quarterback of the future. However, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com suggests that isn’t necessarily the case.
As Schefter observes, the 49ers could end up with one of the top two picks in the 2018 draft, and they could choose to draft their future QB with that pick, or they could use some of their vast amount of cap space to sign a free agent signal-caller (read: Kirk Cousins). If they decide against moving forward with Garoppolo, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, they could put the franchise tag on him and trade him. And, according to Schefter’s sources, San Francisco could get more than the second-round pick it dealt to New England if it were to go that route.
Even if what Schefter says is technically true, it is still difficult to envision Garoppolo somewhere other than San Francisco in 2018, and other writers do not mention the possibility that Tom Brady‘s former backup could be on the move again this offseason. For instance, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that contract talks between Garoppolo and the 49ers will begin soon, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says the 49ers’ acquisition of Garoppolo completely forecloses the chance they pursue Cousins. Rapoport adds that, while San Francisco brass does like Cousins, it chose to take the “sure thing” in Garoppolo now, rather than wait for the possibility Cousins that could be available.
Rapoport writes that Garoppolo and his former club could not come close in their negotiations on a new contract. Those talks were broached last spring, but Garoppolo would not accept a “backup-plus” contract then, and it does not sound as if he wavered from that stance in the subsequent months. As such, New England felt it had no other choice but to trade him and get a higher return that a 2019 compensatory selection, which is what it would have likely received if Garoppolo had simply signed elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
Rapoport also writes that the Patriots chose to keep Garoppolo for the first half of the season rather than trade him for an even larger return before the season began because they wanted insurance in case Brady should suffer a decline in play. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, though, isn’t buying it. Volin says the notion that Brady’s play could have sharply fallen off over the first eight games of this season is nonsense, and “if the Patriots wanted to keep Garoppolo as insurance in case Brady got hurt, that should especially apply over the next eight games and playoffs. But it didn’t.”
Volin believes New England head coach Bill Belichick had every intention of keeping Garoppolo into 2018 and fully expected he would. However, it would have cost the Patriots about $23MM to keep Garoppolo via the franchise tag, and it would have been a clear sign to Brady that 2018 was his final year (and, as Rapoport says, the team will not tell Brady when to move on). Volin writes that trading Garoppolo was simply a case of business trumping football, though he is in agreement with other reports that New England did everything it could to steer Garoppolo towards a franchise that has a bright future as opposed to a team like the Browns, who have coveted Garoppolo for some time.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/5/17
Today’s minor moves:
San Francisco 49ers
- Activated from IR: DL Ronald Blair
- Released: OL Bryce Harris
- Promoted to active roster: OL Darrell Williams, Jr.
Bengals Would Use First-Round Tender On A.J. McCarron?
Bengals backup quarterback A.J. McCarron is filing a grievance against his team in an effort to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Cincinnati drafted him in 2014 and placed him on the non-football injury (NFI) list at the start of training camp that year due to a shoulder injury, and McCarron contends that he was healthy enough to come off the NFI list during training camp. The Bengals, however, did not activate him until December 9, 2014, so he did not accrue a season of service time.
As such, he is currently scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2017 campaign, meaning that the Bengals would have the right of first refusal if another club signed him to an offer sheet. And, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Cincinnati plans to use a first-round tender on McCarron if he loses his grievance and remains a restricted free agent.
The first-round tender amount in 2017 was just shy of $4MM, which is not an enormous expense for a coveted signal-caller, especially since the Bengals owe their starting QB, Andy Dalton, a non-guaranteed $13.7MM salary in 2018. However, as Schefter notes, a first-round tender would make it difficult for another team to simply sign McCarron to an offer sheet, as such a team would need to send a first-round draft choice to Cincinnati if the Bengals refused to match the offer sheet.
Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer, though, says it is likely the Bengals would use a second-round tender on McCarron, and that the team could simply elect to match any offer he receives as a restricted free agent and then try to trade him. Of course, if McCarron wins his grievance, it is highly unlikely he returns to Cincinnati, and the Bengals would probably net a 2019 third-round compensatory choice if/when he signs elsewhere.
Interestingly, Schefter writes that the Browns, who bungled the opportunity to trade for McCarron last week, could also attempt to pursue Dalton via trade this offseason.
Dolphins Activate G Ted Larsen
The Dolphins announced that they have activated guard Ted Larsen. This means that Larsen will be available to play when the Dolphins face the Raiders on Saturday night. 
Larsen suffered a torn biceps injury over the summer, forcing the Dolphins to park him on injured reserve for the first two months of the season. Finally, the Dolphins will have the offensive line they intended to have in Week 1. Larsen, a free agent addition in the spring, will start at left guard along with left tackle Laremy Tunsil, center Mike Pouncey, right guard Jermon Bushrod, and right tackle Ja’Wuan James. It’s good timing for the Dolphins since Larsen’s first stand-in, Anthony Steen, is done for the season with a broken foot. Jesse Davis, the latest starting solution at LG, will revert to the bench.
Larsen, 30, started in 65 of 102 appearances as a Buccaneer, Cardinal and Bear from 2010-16. In Chicago last year, Larsen posted the fifth 16-game slate of his career and logged eight starts, during which he ranked 37th in performance among Pro Football Focus’ 75 qualified guards.
Chiefs Move Tamba Hali To Active Roster
The Chiefs are ready to fire up Tamba Hali. The outside linebacker has been moved to the active roster and will dress this weekend against the Cowboys. To make room, defensive back D.J. White has been placed on waivers. 
Hali began the year on the PUP list, ruling him out for the first half of the season. It was first reported on Nov. 2 that Hali would begin practicing, but there was a hiccup in the plans. Coincidentally or not (probably not), Hali has been given the green light to play after an adjustment to his deal for the 2018 season.
The new contract calls for Hali to make an extra $250K in signing bonuses, but also shifts $1MM in 2018 base pay to a roster bonus due on March 1. That might seem like a minor change, but it will result in the Chiefs making a decision on Hali before the start of free agency. If the Chiefs kick Hali to the curb, he’ll have an opportunity to go elsewhere while the free agent cash is still flowing.
Hali, 34, appeared in all 16 games for the Chiefs in 2016, but he only logged two official starts.
Browns Give Raise To Joe Thomas
The Browns are doing right by Joe Thomas. The offensive tackle has been given a pay bump for the current year as well as next season, as detailed by ESPN.com’s Field Yates. 
Thomas has been given $3MM in new money between 2017 and 2018, including a $1.5MM roster bonus that was paid out to him earlier this week. The other $1.5MM comes from a pay raise for next year. With that extra cash for ’18, Thomas is slated to make $13.5MM, giving him the highest salary of any offensive lineman in the league next year.
The Browns didn’t necessarily have to give Thomas the pay bump since he is already signed through next year. It’s possible that the bonus is to help talk Thomas out of retirement – he said over the summer that he was thinking about hanging ’em up after this season. It could also just be a goodwill gesture towards for Cleveland’s longest-tenured player.
Remarkably, Thomas has made the Pro Bowl in all ten of his professional seasons. He won’t be going to the Pro Bowl this year, however, after a triceps injury shut him down after seven games. Up until that injury, Thomas had logged 10,363 straight snaps on the field.
Saints’ Delvin Breaux Done For Year?
Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux was scheduled to return to the field soon. Unfortunately, a recent setback in practice may make it difficult for him to play this year, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
The new ailment may require an additional 3-6 weeks of recovery, Rapoport hears. The three week window to activate Breaux starting ticking on October 20, so the Saints would have to carry Breaux as dead weight on the roster for roughly three weeks before even possibly getting him on the field. That’s probably not a worthwhile gamble for New Orleans, so his season is likely over.
Per NFL IR-DTR rules, Breaux could have returned in time for Sunday’s Week 9 matchup against the Buccaneers. Obviously, that is no longer in the cards. It’s a tough setback for Breaux, a third-year pro who has suffered two leg fractures in two years.
Last year, the former CFL standout had a dismal 39.1 mark from Pro Football Focus in his abbreviated six-game campaign. In 2015, however, he had an 85.0 overall score which cast him as a top-15 type of cornerback.
Bengals Sign K Marshall Koehn
With Randy Bullock questionable for tomorrow’s game against the Jaguars, the Bengals have added another kicker to the active roster. ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the team has signed Marshall Koehn. To make room on the roster, the Bengals waived safety Derron Smith (via Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer on Twitter).
Bullock was limited throughout the week, and he missed practice on Wednesday. Despite dealing with a back issue, the 27-year-old has been relatively efficient this season. Bullock has connected on all 14 of his extra point attempts as well as eight of his ten field goal attempts. Koehn, a 2016 undrafted free agent out of Iowa, has yet to make an NFL appearance, but he converted two of his three field goal attempts while playing with the Vikings during the preseason. He connected on nearly 78-percent of his field goal attempts and 96-percent of his extra point attempts during his collegiate career.
Smith joined the Bengals organization as a fifth-round pick in 2015. He appeared in 31 games during his two-plus seasons with the organization, but he only made three appearances this year.
Giants Place Weston Richburg On IR
Weston Richburg‘s season is over. The Giants announced that they have placed the center on the injured reserve. The team has promoted cornerback Tim Scott to take his spot on the roster.
Richburg, a 2014 second-round pick, has started 50 of his 51 games over the past three-plus seasons. The 26-year-old was productive in four games this season, as Pro Football Focus ranked him 14th among 36 eligible center candidates, and he had similar grades in 2015 and 2016. Richburg hadn’t played since early October as he recovered from a concussion, with Brett Jones taking his spot in the starting lineup. Ralph Vacchiano of SNY tweets that the center is set to be an unrestricted free agent following the season, and he may have played his final game for the organization.
Scott, a 2015 undrafted free agent out of the University of North Carolina, has spent the entire season on the Giants practice squad. With Janoris Jenkins suspended and Donte Deayon dealing with an ankle injury, the team was certainly seeking reinforcement at the position. This weekend, Scott could theoretically slide in as the team’s fourth cornerback behind Eli Apple, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Ross Cockrell.