Lions Put Mike Daniels, Kenny Wiggins On IR
The Lions are shutting down a couple of veterans with two games to go in their disappointing season. Defensive lineman Mike Daniels and offensive lineman Kenny Wiggins are going on injured reserve, according to Tim Twentyman of the team’s official site (Twitter link). Wiggins has a torn bicep and will undergo surgery on Tuesday, according to a tweet from Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. 
Both players went down during the team’s loss to Tampa Bay this past week. This will wrap up an extremely disappointing first season in Detroit for Daniels. He was one of the biggest names cut during training camp when the Packers suddenly released him back in July. He got a whopping $9.1MM to sign a one-year deal with the division rival Lions, and will end the season only having appeared in nine games. Even when healthy he wasn’t playing that large of a role, and he’ll finish with only ten tackles and one sack.
Daniels made a name for himself in Green Bay, and he made the Pro Bowl in 2017. When he was cut following an injury-plagued 2018 campaign, he was highly sought after on the open market. Set to turn 31 in May, he’ll likely have to settle for a cheap prove-it deal this offseason. Wiggins is a versatile vet who started all 16 games at right guard for the Chargers in 2017.
He signed a two-year, $5MM deal with Detroit before last season, and started ten games in 2018. He only started three games this year but the Lions utilized an unusual guard rotation for most of the year, so he was playing heavy snaps all season. He’s played just shy of 44 percent of the offensive snaps on the year.
Panthers To Bench Kyle Allen, Start Will Grier
It looks like the move that many Panthers fans have been clamoring for might finally happen. The team is expected to bench Kyle Allen and start rookie Will Grier at quarterback in Week 16, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Allen showed well during a Week 17 spot start last year, and did enough in camp to beat out Grier to be Cam Newton‘s backup at the start of the season. Newton was soon sidelined by his foot injury and eventually placed on injured reserve, so Allen has been starting since Week 3. He had some initial success, and the Panthers won each of his first four starts. There was even some talk of Allen potentially starting over a healthy Newton and being Carolina’s quarterback of the future, but after a hot start he faded pretty fast.
He’s been falling apart in recent weeks, throwing ten interceptions over his past five games. Carolina raised some eyebrows by drafting Grier in the third-round back in April, but he’s yet to take a regular season snap. A West Virginia product, there were some analysts during his last year in college who thought he was a first or second round prospect. He slipped a bit as the pre-draft process went on, and ended up going 100th overall.
He’ll now be seeing his first regular season action on the road against the Colts. The Panthers have one of the most interesting offseasons ahead of them of any team, with reports suggesting they might look to move on from Newton this spring. With so much uncertainty at the position, it makes sense why they’d want to take a look at Grier over the final two games.
With this move, Allen’s days as a starter are likely over for the foreseeable future. It was a nice story for a while, and his rapid rise and fall are a good reminder that nothing lasts long in the National Football League. A second-year UDFA from Houston, Allen can be brought back cheaply next year so it’s possible he’ll once again be Carolina’s backup in 2020.
Extra Points: Tight Ends, Bullough, Cowboys
With the regular season winding down, attention across the league is understandably starting to turn toward the offseason. There are a ton of interesting storylines for 2020 free agency, and one of them is that tight ends across the NFL are about to get paid. A number of top tight ends are either going to be entering free agency or the final years of their deals, and multiple sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com they will “redefine the value of NFL tight ends, and the position is about to see a major bump in the salaries paid to them.”
The 49ers’ George Kittle is going to be entering the final year of his deal and San Francisco will likely seek to work out an extension. Philadelphia’s Zach Ertz is also going to be entering a contract year, while Atlanta’s Austin Hooper will be a free agent this spring. The Chargers’ Hunter Henry and Eric Ebron of the Colts are also both slated to be free agents. Schefter writes that “few around the league believe that Kittle will play next season” still under his rookie deal, so it sounds like he’s going to land a massive extension. He’ll probably become the league’s highest-paid tight end whenever that happens. The position isn’t as deep as it used to be league-wide, but the top ones are playing huge roles on some of the NFL’s top offenses. Now, it sounds like they’re going to break the bank.
Here’s more as Week 15 comes to a close:
- We’ve got minor retirement news to pass along, as linebacker Riley Bullough is hanging up his cleats, per Jenna Laine of ESPN.com (Twitter link). A Michigan State product, Bullough is best remembered by NFL fans for being featured prominently in the 2017 season of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ while with the Buccaneers. Bullough signed with Tampa as an UDFA in 2017, and bounced between their practice squad and active roster over the next two years. He started three games for the Bucs last year, and was in camp with Tennessee this summer. He comes from a football family, with his brother Max and father Shane both also playing at MSU. Max spent a few years in the NFL with the Texans and Browns.
- The Cowboys pulled off a big win over the Rams on Sunday, but they also suffered a blow to their depth. Rookie linebacker Luke Gifford will miss the rest of the season with a fractured arm he picked up during the win, a source told Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Gifford, an UDFA from Nebraska, has only appeared in five games this season due to injury, but he’s been playing a pretty big role on special teams when healthy. He’s yet to take a defensive snap in his pro career.
- In case you missed it, it looks like Freddie Kitchens will be back in Cleveland next year.
5 Key NFL Stories: 12/8/19 – 12/15/19
Odell Beckham Jr. wants out: Just when you thought the Browns’ 2019 season couldn’t get any more dysfunctional, reports emerged this past week that Beckham wasn’t happy in Cleveland. The star receiver allegedly wants out, and has been telling opposing players and coaches to come get him. The Browns were the subject of endless hype this offseason due to their retooled roster and new coaching staff, but things fell apart quickly and they started the year 2-6. They’ll be missing the playoffs this season, and will be dealing with a lot of drama this offseason. Beckham is under contract through the 2023 season, and it’ll be very interesting to see what happens with him this spring. Beckham has been having a disappointing season, and hasn’t been nearly the elite top option the Browns were hoping for.
Alshon Jeffery done for the year: The Eagles are still very much alive in the pitiful NFC East, but they’re going to be making their final push without a key piece of the offense. Their best receiver was placed on injured reserve after going down with a foot injury on Monday Night Football last week, and he won’t play again this season. He’ll finish 2019 having only appeared in ten games, making 43 catches for 490 yards and four touchdowns.
Giants cut Janoris Jenkins: Jenkins was waived by New York after insulting a fan on Twitter. He had also publicly blasted the coaching staff in recent weeks, and the team finally felt it was right to move on. Jenkins is capable of being a solid corner and he has a lot of starting experience, so it’ll be very interesting to see if a contender claims him on Monday. He has no guaranteed money on his deal beyond this year, so a prospective new team wouldn’t be risking much. We heard earlier this morning that he was expected to join a contender for Week 16.
Cardinals cut Terrell Suggs: Jenkins wasn’t the only veteran defender to hit the waiver wire this week, as Suggs will be joining him. After spending the first 16 years of his career with the Ravens, the pass-rusher signed with Arizona this offseason on a one-year, $7MM deal. He had been reasonably productive for the Cardinals, finishing with 5.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in 13 games. Suggs’ waiver situation is going to be very interesting, as his team has put it out there publicly that he doesn’t want to play for any team other than Baltimore. Suggs wants to return home to finish his career as the Ravens get ready for a playoff run, but they are also last in the waiver priority list. There’s apparently at least one team other than Baltimore planning on claiming him, and it’ll be interesting to see if he changes his mind and reports.
Dolphins extend DeVante Parker: What was supposed to be a dreadful season for the Dolphins has surprisingly produced a bunch of nice moments. There have been many bright spots, and the Parker redemption arc is certainly one of them. The former first-round pick finally has begun to deliver on his potential this season, and Miami rewarded him by handing him a four-year extension worth around $40MM. He’ll get an $8MM signing bonus, and will now be under contract through the 2023 season.
Patriots’ Videographer Issues Statement
We heard word earlier this morning that the Patriots had suspended videographer David Mondillo, and now he is speaking out. Mondillo issued a lengthy statement Sunday, via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).
“On December 8th I was doing what I have done for more than 18 years – working to produce high quality content that tells the unique, behind-the-scenes stories of people, players and the organization. It never occurred to me that my actions and the actions of my crew would be misconstrued,” he begins by saying. “I went to the restroom and when I came back, my cameraman was told to stop shooting by someone from the NFL and he was joined by two others from the Bengals organization and an additional NFL security person. We stopped shooting immediately when asked to do so and cooperated fully. We had a detailed exchange about who we were and why we were there and what they wanted us to do.”
The exchange Mondillo references is the one that can be seen in the footage obtained by FOX earlier this morning. In that video someone from New England’s crew says “I can delete this right here for you,” before the Bengals rep replies, “the damage is done.” Importantly, Mondillo repeated the company line that the football side of the organization was never going to receive his footage. “I had no intention to provide footage to football operations, I did not provide any footage, and I was never asked to do so,” he said in the statement.
Overall, it certainly doesn’t sound like Mondillo plans on flipping on his employer. He tried to explain why there was extensive footage of the Bengals’ sideline by saying they “took footage of the field as the intent was to show what he was looking at when he looked through his binoculars watching the game.” The last we heard was that the Patriots were likely to face some type of punishment from the league, and this statement probably doesn’t do anything to change that.
Patriots Likely To Face Discipline For Video Incident
DEC. 15: Jay Glazer of FOX Sports obtained the much-ballyhooed video, and as Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic tweets, it does indeed contain extended (read: not accidental) footage of the Bengals’ sideline. The video also includes interaction between the Bengals and Patriots staffs, and as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, when the Bengals confronted the Patriots, the Patriots rep said, “I can delete this right here for you.” The Bengals rep then said, “the damage is done.” Florio believes that dialogue supports New England’s position that the taping of Cincinnati’s sidelines was inadvertent, while skeptics will argue that the Pats were caught red-handed and were just trying to save face.
DEC. 14: It seems like the Patriots aren’t going to be exonerated of wrongdoing by the league for the videotaping incident that dominated headlines this past week. For a full primer on the scandal, click here.
The NFL is “likely to penalize” New England, sources tell Mark Maske of the Washington Post. Maske writes that the league office is “contemplating disciplinary measures in line with those imposed on teams in recent seasons for infractions of game-day rules.” As for the type of punishment, he writes that it could “mean a fine in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and potentially the loss or reduction in value of a draft choice, typically a lower-level pick.” Likewise, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports hears that the team is facing “significant punishment,” which is likely to include the loss of at least one draft pick, heavy fines, and the possibility of a suspension for a member of upper management and/or ownership.
Maske highlights a number of incidents that sources indicated could serve as precedents. The Giants were fined $150K back in 2016 for using walkie-talkies on the sideline, and the Falcons were fined $350K for artificially adding crowd noise in 2015. One source told him that the NFL has been “consistent on game-day violations,” and that will likely continue here. Fortunately for the Pats, Maske writes that Bill Belichick and individual members of the organization aren’t being targeted for potential punishments.
While Roger Goodell had previously said that the Patriots’ history with illegal videotaping would be taken into account, Maske writes that neither Belichick nor anybody else are being “viewed as repeat offenders.” He adds that the penalties aren’t set in stone yet, and deliberations in the league office will resume on Sunday.
The league is apparently hoping for a resolution as soon as possible, so we should know more shortly. All things considered, it doesn’t seem like they’re going to be cracking down too hard or hitting the Patriots with anything too severe. The organization likely wouldn’t lose much sleep over a fine, although obviously a potential draft pick sanction would be much more significant. Notably, Atlanta was docked a fifth-round pick in 2016 for the incident that Maske says is being used as a comparison.
Terrell Suggs Only To Play For Ravens?
DEC. 15: At least one team other than the Ravens is poised to claim Suggs, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Rapoport confirms that Suggs is not certain to report if he is claimed by a club other than Baltimore, but again, teams may simply want to keep the future Hall-of-Famer from reuniting with the 12-2 Ravens. Rapoport speculates that the Titans, who employ Suggs’ former Baltimore defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, could be the interested team. Jason La Canfora of CBS sports says Tennessee is, in fact, interested in Suggs, along with the 49ers (Twitter link).
DEC. 14: An interesting showdown is setting up between pass-rusher Terrell Suggs and NFL teams. Suggs, released earlier this week, only wants to play for the Ravens and will “strongly consider” not reporting to other teams who claim him, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
Suggs started his career with the team, and wants to return to Baltimore to finish it out. The only problem is that since the Ravens have the league’s best record they have the lowest priority waiver claim, so all 31 other teams will have to pass on him for him to get his wish. Suggs “has told some people that he is unlikely to report anywhere other than Baltimore,” Schefter writes. Suggs can be claimed at 4pm ET on Monday, so we’ll know his next destination in the next couple of days.
Even if a team knows that Suggs will retire rather than play for them, they might still be inclined to claim him just to block the Ravens from adding some help right before the playoffs. It would certainly make sense for a fellow contender to want to spoil Baltimore’s plans, and Suggs is only owed $350K for the rest of the season.
The longtime veteran was drafted tenth overall by the Ravens all the way back in 2003. He spent the next 16 seasons with the team and became a franchise icon, winning Super Bowl XLVII with them and making the Pro Bowl seven times. He remained reasonably productive with seven sacks last year, but the Ravens let him walk to Arizona. He inked a one-year, $7MM deal with the Cardinals, and ended up finishing with 5.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in 13 games with them.
Browns Not Eager To Extend Joe Schobert
We heard about a month ago that the Browns had discussed an extension with linebacker Joe Schobert, but it doesn’t sound like there’s been much progress. Cleveland has “made little effort” to extend him and they “are willing to let him walk in free agency,” a source told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.
Schobert said last month that his agent had conversations with the front office about a new deal, but Cabot reports that the two sides haven’t spoken in months and that when the subject was briefly discussed, it “was evident the franchise was not serious about re-signing him at that time.” That might rankle some Browns fans, as Schobert has been having a great season. Kay Cabot also writes that the figures that were discussed wouldn’t have even made Schobert the highest-paid linebacker on the team, a distinction currently held by Christian Kirksey and his $9.5MM average salary.
Schobert, a 2017 Pro Bowler, has the seventh-most tackles in the league this year. He also has two sacks, two forced fumbles, four interceptions, and nine passes defended. The Wisconsin product was originally drafted by the Browns in the fourth round back in 2016. He played a part-time role as a rookie before becoming a starter in his second season. He’s now playing out the final year of his rookie deal, and if the Browns don’t retain him he should have no shortage of suitors on the open market.
According to Kay Cabot Schobert recently acknowledged he might not get to stay a Brown, but said “in my perfect world, yeah, I’d be in Cleveland.” The Browns have obviously been having a disappointing season, and they could look to make major changes this spring. It’ll be very interesting to see what ends up happening with Schobert.
Seahawks Activate Ethan Pocic From IR
The Seahawks are getting a boost as they gear up for their playoff push. The team is activating offensive lineman Ethan Pocic off injured reserve, they announced in a release.
To make room for him on the roster they officially placed running Rashaad Penny, who tore an ACL last week, on injured reserve. Pocic was placed on injured reserve after Week 6, and is now returning when first eligible after missing the requisite eight games. He had been dealing with a back issue. Pocic started the team’s opener at left guard and played 100 percent of the snaps, but injuries have limited him to just two games in his third season as a pro.
Seattle drafted him in the second round back in 2017, and he started 11 games as a rookie while appearing in all 16. An LSU product, injuries limited him to only ten appearances last year with four starts. Pocic has played all along the offensive line during his college and pro days, so he brings some valuable versatility to the unit. Normal starting center Justin Britt is on injured reserve with an ACL tear of his own, and Joey Hunt has been filling in. Now that Pocic is back, he could push Hunt for that gig soon. Either way, he’ll be a nice depth piece for the stretch run.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/10/19
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Re-signed DL Caraun Reid
- Placed on IR: DL Rodney Gunter
Dallas Cowboys
- Promoted from practice squad: OT Mitch Hyatt
- Placed on IR: WR Cedrick Wilson
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: LB Dakota Allen, C Tyler Gauthier
- Placed on IR: LB Jake Ryan
Miami Dolphins
- Signed off New England’s practice squad: DB Nate Brooks
- Signed off Tennessee’s practice squad: LB Jamal Davis
- Claimed off waivers from Packers: OT Adam Pankey
- Placed on IR: CBs Ryan Lewis and Ken Webster
- Waived: RB Zach Zenner
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Promoted: WR Ishmael Hyman
Washington Redskins
- Suspended: CB Simeon Thomas (four games)
Interestingly Dallas’ hand was forced with Hyatt, as they promoted the offensive lineman because another team was trying to poach him away, a source told Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). He’s a rookie UDFA from Clemson. Elsewhere, the Dolphins are scooping up players from other teams left and right as they build for 2020.