Latest On Josh Rosen, Dolphins
The Dolphins might be a dumpster fire, but they’re Josh Rosen‘s dumpster fire. Head coach Brian Flores announced recently that barring injury, Rosen will start the team’s final 12 games no matter what. Rosen realizes he has a limited window to make his mark, and acknowledged as such in some interesting comments the other day. “The way I am sort of approaching this year is I feel like I am really just trying out for the team,” Rosen said Wednesday, via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. “I feel like I am auditioning and I am trying to put my best foot forward and prove to everyone upstairs and coach Flo and Mr. Grier that I am the man moving forward.”
However, Salguero writes that Rosen is mistaken. The UCLA product is “very much in the team’s plans for 2020” whether he plays well or not because of his guaranteed cheap salary for the next couple of years, Salguero writes. But “even if he improves exponentially,” the Dolphins are still going to take a quarterback in the first round next April, he reports. Salguero writes that he has been “told this over and over and over by Dolphins sources,” and that they aren’t wavering from their plan to draft a signal-caller early no matter how well Rosen plays down the stretch.
That being said, that doesn’t mean Rosen won’t have the chance to still be Miami’s quarterback of the future. Salguero thinks that Rosen will enter training camp next year in a battle with whoever the Dolphins draft, and that he’ll have a legit and fair chance to win the starting job. Whoever wins the starting job should be in much better shape than Ryan Fitzpatrick and Rosen were this year, as the team openly tanked and shipped out veteran players left and right.
Salguero writes that the Dolphins are “definitely not” tanking in 2020, and that they “expect to use a sizable portion” of the massive amount of salary cap space they’ve saved up “to field a much more veteran and competitive team.” The Dolphins, of course, sit at 0-4 and while Rosen has shown flashes at times, he hasn’t been consistent enough to warrant too much praise. Obviously he isn’t surrounded by much talent, and he’s already had a ton of passes dropped. The tenth overall pick of the 2018 draft by the Cardinals, Rosen has had a very unusual career-path thus far. It’ll be very interesting to see how the rest of his Dolphins tenure plays out.
Broncos Give Andy Janovich Three-Year Extension
Broncos fullback Andy Janovich missed the first few games of the season, but that didn’t stop him from getting paid. Denver is giving Janovich a three-year extension, a source told Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link).
The deal will be worth $5.7MM tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who notes it’ll pay him a signing bonus of $1.35MM with $3.22MM fully guaranteed. Janovich is now the league’s third-highest paid fullback, and his deal runs through 2022 now. He had previously been scheduled to be a free agent after this season as he’s currently playing out the final year of his rookie deal. The Broncos originally drafted Janovich in the sixth-round back in 2016.
A Nebraska product, Janovich has become something of a fan favorite in Denver. He suffered a pec injury during training camp that knocked him out for the first few weeks of the season, but he returned a couple of games ago. Last season Janovich carried the ball only twice for five yards, while reeling in eight catches for 112 yards and a touchdown.
Last year he played about 22 percent of the offensive snaps, and is a key member of some of their special teams units. Broncos GM John Elway issued a statement on the extension, which you can read courtesy of this tweet from Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic, calling Janovich “exactly what you look for in a fullback,” and saying it’s “nice to see how Andy’s hard work has paid off.”
A.J. Green Returns To Practice
After weeks of rule outs and no timetables for his return, Bengals receiver A.J. Green took a step in the right direction Thursday. Green returned for a “very limited practice,” according to Geoff Hobson of the team’s official site (Twitter link). As Hobson notes, this is his first time getting any work in since he got hurt back on July 27th. 
In a follow-up tweet, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network notes that Green has a chance to play next week. Green “made some cuts, did some sidesteps over pads and caught a couple balls” in the period of practice open to the media, per a tweet from Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He’s already been ruled out for Cincy’s Week 6 game against the Ravens. At 0-5, it’s looking like a lost season for the Bengals, which has led to a lot of speculation that they’ll look to trade Green, an impending free agent.
Just earlier today Green said he hadn’t heard anything about a potential trade, and he recently expressed a desire to have a career like his mentor Larry Fitzgerald has had with the Cardinals. In three of the past four seasons now, Green has missed significant time due to injury. He’s still one of the league’s better receivers when healthy, but he’ll be 32 next season, which complicates things. He’s reportedly been casually discussing an extension with the Bengals for months now, but the two sides are apparently pretty far apart on compensation.
Green suffered a severe ankle injury toward the beginning of camp, and recently there have been rumblings that they may look to keep him out past the Week 9 bye. The fact that he returned to practice today suggests he’ll be back in either Week 7 or 8, perhaps to better showcase him for a deadline trade. If they’re not going to trade him they could really use him as soon as possible, as fellow receiver John Ross was recently placed on IR.
Jalen Ramsey Hasn’t Changed Stance, Not Committed To Playing Week 6
Pump the brakes on Jalen Ramsey‘s return to the Jaguars’ lineup. Earlier today, Jags owner Shad Khan said he expected Ramsey to play in Week 6 after having a “heart to heart” with the young cornerback. However, that’s apparently far from guaranteed. Ramsey is still just “going to listen to his body,” and nothing has changed in terms of his trade demand, reports Josina Anderson of ESPN (Twitter link).
Khan continues to publicly express positivity, but it sounds like he’s either a little overly optimistic, or he’s just putting on a good face for the media. When asked about a recent report that Jacksonville wouldn’t take five first-rounders for Ramsey, Khan replied by asking “do you understand value? Then I think you already know the answer.” He also admitted every player has a price, so Khan certainly didn’t rule out a trade, and he added “I think we’ll be able to come to whatever makes sense for all.”
The Jaguars sit at 2-3 and have a pivotal game against the Saints coming up, so they could obviously use Ramsey. The Florida State product has remained steadfast in his trade request, and also is dealing with a back injury. Ramsey visited a back specialist in Houston last week, but the fact that Khan expects him to play would suggest it isn’t anything too serious.
The team isn’t considering trade offers, and Khan has said he wants to give Ramsey a record-breaking contract extension. Ramsey returned to a limited practice Wednesday, but the fact that his camp wanted Anderson’s report out there is a clear sign that they’re not committing to playing this Sunday. We should know more about his status shortly.
XFL Notes: Robinson, Cook, Aguayo, Cobb, Gray, Broyles, Boyer, Locke, Novak, Ollie
The relaunched XFL is gearing up for its first season, and they’re starting to announce more and more of their initial player pool. There are a lot of ex-NFL guys in the mix, and we’ll get to that in just a bit, but at least one notable college player is looking to jump right in. Former West Virginia safety Kenny Robinson is entering the XFL draft pool, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. Robinson was dismissed from West Virginia for academic fraud earlier this year. Florio writes that he was “considered a likely draft choice,” but hadn’t been in school long enough to be eligible for the NFL, which requires you to be three years removed from high school graduation.
That left Robinson with the options of looking for a new school to play at, or entering an alternative pro league. “Now they can see how I hold up mentally and physically,” Robinson told Andy Staples of The Athletic. “They’ll see me playing against guys who have actually been in the NFL and done it.” Robinson will be an early test case for what the XFL is hoping more players opt to do. Ever since they announced they were coming back, the XFL has attempted to position itself as a league for talented high school and college players to consider as an alternative to the NCAA. As Florio notes, Robinson will be eligible for the 2020 NFL Draft. In 12 games for the Mountaineers last year he had 77 tackles and four interceptions, earning a first-team All-Big 12 nod.
And now, onto the NFL alums:
- In the first group of players that the league announced on Twitter, a few names jumped out. Former Michigan State and Raiders quarterback Connor Cook is on the list. Cook was drafted by Oakland in the fourth-round back in 2016, and even ended up starting a playoff game for them that year after injuries to Derek Carr and Matt McGloin. He spent 2017 as a third-stringer and was released at final cuts the following year. He was briefly with the Lions earlier this offseason, but was waived back in June.
- Everybody’s favorite kicker Roberto Aguayo was also on the list, as were running backs David Cobb and Jonas Gray. Aguayo, of course, was infamously drafted by the Buccaneers in the second-round back in 2016. He lasted only one year as the Bucs’ kicker despite his draft status, and has become a punchline ever since. Cobb had a brief run as the Titans’ lead back in 2015, but never did anything after that. He most recently played in the AAF with the San Antonio Commanders. Gray was with the Patriots in 2014, and won Super Bowl XLIX with the team. Gray randomly had an absurd week in November of that year, rushing for 201 yards and four touchdowns. He quickly fell out of favor, and was released by New England the following year. He hasn’t even been in a training camp since 2016.
- Earlier Tuesday, the XFL posted to Twitter their second batch of players. Among the notable names was receiver Ryan Broyles, a second-round pick of the Lions back in 2012. Broyles, a legendary Oklahoma player, showed some promise as a rookie, but injuries derailed his career after that. He last appeared in a regular season game in 2014. There were also a few interesting specialists on the list in longsnapper Nate Boyer, punter Jeff Locke, and kicker Nick Novak. Boyer spent six years in the military and served in Afghanistan and Iraq before becoming a walk-on at Texas. He spent the 2015 offseason with the Seahawks, but was ultimately released. Notably, he is the player who advised Colin Kaepernick to kneel rather than sit during the national anthem. Locke spent four seasons as the Vikings’ punter. Novak is a veteran NFL kicker who spent over a decade in the league from 2005-20017. Ronald Ollie, one of the stars of the popular Netflix show ‘Last Chance U’, is also on the list.
Cardinals Claim Trevor Williams Off Waivers
The Cardinals have been awarded cornerback Trevor Williams off waivers, the team announced in a release. To make room on the active roster, Arizona has released punter Ryan Winslow.
Williams was just waived by the Chargers, and he’ll be staying on the west coast. Patrick Peterson still has one game left on his suspension and Tramaine Brock got banged up during Arizona’s Week 5 game, so they needed some help in the secondary. A Penn State product, Williams made a name for himself in Los Angeles as an undrafted free agent. In 2017, he started 15 games and had 13 passes defended and two interceptions.
He started seven games last year, but then got hurt and his recovery lagged. He started this year off injured again and hasn’t appeared in a game in 2019, although he’s apparently back to full health. He hasn’t played since midway through last season, so it’s unclear if he’ll be able to play right away. Either way, it’s a nice high-upside and low-risk pickup for this rebuilding Cardinals team. Winslow had been filling in for regular punter Andy Lee, who should now be ready to return from his injury.
Broncos Sign Coty Sensabaugh, Place De’Vante Bausby On IR
The Broncos are making a move to bolster their ailing defense. Denver is signing veteran cornerback Coty Sensabaugh, sources told Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link).
Klis notes that the Broncos worked out several corners this morning, and Sensabaugh apparently won the competition. De’Vante Bausby, who was just recently inserted into the starting lineup, suffered a scary spine injury in their Week 5 win over the Chargers, and Klis reports in a separate tweet that he’s headed to injured reserve. Sensabaugh was a fourth-round pick of the Titans back in 2012, and he brings a lot of starting experience.
For his career, the Clemson product has appeared in 101 games while making 43 starts. After playing out his initial rookie deal in Tennessee, he landed a three-year, $15MM deal from the Rams. He started a couple of games early on, but was surprisingly released after just a month in Los Angeles. He spent the past two seasons in Pittsburgh, and started ten games for them last season.
Bausby was ultimately diagnosed with a cervical sprain, and thankfully was back in the locker room today moving around well and speaking to reporters. He shared some frightening details, including that he was partially paralyzed for the first 30 minutes after taking a friendly-fire hit, via Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic (Twitter link). Hopefully Bausby continues to make a full recovery, and it sounds like that’s what is expected.
Falcons Place Johnathan Cyprien On IR
Injuries continue to pile up for the Falcons’ defense. Just about a week after making a deal to acquire safety Johnathan Cyprien from the Eagles, the team is placing him on injured reserve, they announced in a release.
Details on his injury weren’t immediately released, but he’ll now have to miss at least the next eight weeks. The Falcons already lost starting safety Keanu Neal for the season, and traded for Cyprien in part to help replace him. Cyprien started the team’s Week 5 loss to the Texans, so it’s yet another big blow to a unit that has been one of the most banged up in the entire league the past couple of years. The Falcons are now 1-4, and at a crossroads. Owner Arthur Blank has said he’s not making a coaching change at this time, but Dan Quinn is clearly on the hot seat.
Cyprien originally entered the league as a second-round pick of the Jaguars back in 2013. After four years as a full-time starter in Jacksonville, he signed with the Titans in 2017. He missed six games with a hamstring injury that year, but started the other ten. Last year, he missed the entire season with a torn ACL, and it’s unclear if his latest injury is related to that.
The Falcons made a small flurry of corresponding roster moves. They signed cornerback D.J. White off of the Eagles’ practice squad to their active roster, signed offensive lineman John Wetzel, signed punter Sam Irwin-Hill to their practice squad and released tight end Carson Meier off of the practice squad. Wetzel has started 24 games for the Cardinals the past three years, and White is a 2016 sixth-round pick of the Chiefs who has bounced around a bit but never played much.
Extra Points: Ramsey, Badet, Browns
Jalen Ramsey caused a stir yet again Sunday, even though he wasn’t playing. Ramsey missed the Jaguars’ loss to the Panthers with his back issue, but he surprisingly popped up in Houston with Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. Watson posted a photo to Instagram of the two of them with their mutual agent David Mulugheta, which sparked an uproar online. Ramsey, of course, is still demanding a trade out of Jacksonville.
Despite some wishful thinking of Texans fans, Ramsey and Mulugheta weren’t in town to facilitate a trade to his AFC South rival. Instead, the Jaguars cornerback was in Houston to get his back checked out by a specialist, a source told Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Ramsey just recently revealed that he’s been dealing with back issues for the last couple of seasons, and it’s unclear how long this latest flare-up will sideline him. Stay tuned for the next edition of Ramsey-watch.
Here’s more from around the league as Week 6 winds down:
- Former Vikings receiver Jeff Badet could be back in the league soon. Badet has workouts scheduled for this week with the Packers and Browns, according to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link). Tomasson notes that he suffered a finger injury during the preseason with Minnesota, and said in a separate tweet that his finger is now fully healed. Badet spent last year on the Vikings’ practice squad, and he was coveted this offseason. To keep him from signing with the Jets, the Vikings gave Badet a $75K bonus on his reserve/futures contract. He’s a 2018 UDFA from Oklahoma.
- Speaking of the Browns, they’ll again be shorthanded in their Week 5 Monday Night Football game against the 49ers. Starting cornerbacks Greedy Williams and Denzel Ward are both unlikely to play, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The Browns’ secondary is still really banged up even as their safeties have gotten healthier, as both young cornerbacks are dealing with hamstring injuries. It’s unfortunate for Cleveland, as they’ll be facing a well-rested San Francisco team coming off their bye in this pivotal game.
- In case you missed it, general managers across the league are expecting a very active trade deadline.
Injury Updates: Rudolph, Bausby, Hicks, Gallman, Sproles
Some key injuries around the league from today’s action:
- There was a scary scene in Pittsburgh, when Mason Rudolph was knocked unconscious by a hit from Ravens safety Earl Thomas. Rudolph was knocked out cold, and was visibly disoriented even after waking up. He was diagnosed with a concussion, and taken to a local hospital as a precaution. Fortunately, Rudolph was cleared to go home from the hospital and is “doing well,” a source told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Undrafted rookie Devlin Hodges took over for Rudolph, and he looked surprisingly competent. The Samford product, recently signed from the practice squad after Ben Roethlisberger‘s injury, will start against the Chargers next week if Rudolph can’t go.
- Speaking of scary injuries, Broncos cornerback De’Vante Bausby suffered one as well. Bausby was taken to a hospital, and Denver initially said they were waiting on MRI results for his “head and neck area before determining whether it’s safe for him to fly home or stay a night for observation,” according to a tweet from Mike Klis of Denver 9 News. Klis notes that head coach Vic Fangio said he was told Bausby “cleared the serious stage,” but wouldn’t say much more. Fortunately, Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic later tweeted that Bausby had been released from the hospital and would make the flight back to Denver with the team. Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth tweeted that Bausby was diagnosed with a cervical sprain. Hopefully everything turns out alright for the former AAF star, who was recently inserted into the starting lineup.
- The Bears lost as big favorites to the Raiders in London, and their day got even worse. Star defensive lineman Akiem Hicks hurt his elbow, and it doesn’t look good. Speaking after the game, head coach Matt Nagy didn’t sound overly optimistic. “I don’t think it is, but I don’t – again, I’ll get into more and find out more details,” Nagy said, when asked if the injury was season-ending, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Hicks made the Pro Bowl last year, and is a key cog in Chicago’s elite defense. Fortunately they have their bye in Week 6, but it sounds like Hicks is going to miss some time.
- The Giants’ running back situation just got even more dire. Of course, they were missing workhorse Saquon Barkley, who is sidelined with an ankle injury. Wayne Gallman took over for Barkley as their lead back, and he was quickly ruled out with a concussion during their Week 5 loss to the Vikings. New York plays on Thursday Night Football against the Patriots this week, so Gallman will have a tough time getting cleared in just a few days. There’s been some talk Barkley could return for that game, although that still seems unlikely. Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones will be looking to pull off a shorthanded miracle.
- Eagles running back Darren Sproles reached a new milestone in his illustrious career, but then got nicked up shortly after. During Philly’s win over the Jets Sproles moved into fifth place on the all-time all purpose yards list, but then left the game with a quad injury. Sproles hasn’t been playing too big of a role so far this season as the Eagles look to keep the 36-year-old fresh, but this is still something to monitor. There was no word on the severity right away.