Texans’ P.J. Hall Done For The Year
The season-ending injuries just keep rolling in, and the Texans are the latest to be hit. Defensive tackle P.J. Hall tore a pec and will miss the rest of the season as a result, a source told Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
Hall was scooped up on a cheap one-year deal back in August, and he’s turned into a nice find in an otherwise lost year. He’d started the past nine games, playing a little over half of the defensive snaps. He’ll finish his first season in Houston with 34 tackles, a sack, and a couple of quarterback hits. It’s yet another blow for a Texans defense that is already missing several starters.
While it’s a disappointing finish, Hall likely rehabilitated his value at least a little as he prepares to enter free agency. The 57th overall pick of the 2018 draft by the Raiders, he never lived up to his second-round status. He started 12 games for the Raiders last year but fell out of favor with the coaching staff, and was traded to Minnesota for a seventh-rounder in August. That deal was quickly nixed as he was waived with a failed physical, allowing him to sign with Houston.
Patriots Fear Rex Burkhead Has Torn ACL
It’s just not the Patriots’ year. New England lost another game at the last minute Sunday, and it looks like they’ll be without a key piece of the offense the rest of the way.
The Pats fear running back Rex Burkhead has a torn ACL, a source told Jeff Howe of The Athletic (Twitter link). Howe adds that he’ll get an MRI to confirm, but initial field tests for ACL tears are extremely accurate and almost never wrong. He was never a featured back in New England, but he’s played a consistent role for Bill Belichick over the past four years. He’ll finish the season with 67 carries for 274 yards and three touchdowns, adding 25 catches for 192 yards and another three scores through the air.
A sixth-round pick of the Bengals back in 2013, Burkhead was signed by Belichick after his rookie deal expired in 2017. Burkhead is now set to be an unrestricted free agent again this spring, and he’ll be 31 by the time next season starts. With the Pats having youngsters Damien Harris and Sony Michel in the backfield, it’s certainly possible they’ll decide to move on. That being said he remained productive this season, and was actually seeing a little bit more volume than in years past.
If this is the end of his run with the Patriots, he’ll finish it having won Super Bowl LIII with the team. At his age and now coming off the ACL tear he’ll struggle for much guaranteed money on the market, assuming he decides to keep playing.
Titans’ Jayon Brown Out For Season
We’ve unfortunately got word of another season-ending injury to pass along. The Titans won an overtime thriller over the Ravens to snap out of their slump, but they weren’t able to escape unscathed.
Linebacker Jayon Brown suffered a dislocated and fractured elbow and will miss the rest of the season as a result, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). It’s a devastating blow for a Tennessee defense that has already struggled this year. The inside backer has been the team’s leading tackler in 2020. A fifth-round pick in 2017, Brown became a starter during his second year in the league when he had 97 tackles, six sacks, and six passes defended.
He had played almost every single snap this year, so it’s hard to overstate how big of a loss this is. Starting cornerback Adoree’ Jackson is still hurt, and they just placed edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney on injured reserve. They’re going to be significantly shorthanded on defense as they enter a pivotal division game in Week 12 against the Colts which could determine who wins the AFC South.
Brown, a UCLA product, should be ready well in advance of the 2021 season, but this certainly wasn’t the end to the rookie contract he was hoping for. He’ll now be an unrestricted free agent in March, and while this hopefully won’t hurt his market too much, it certainly won’t help. Either way, the 25-year-old should be in for a big raise this offseason.
Joe Burrow Done For The Year
UPDATE, 4:45pm: It is indeed believed to be an ACL tear for Burrow, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). Rapsheet adds that “there may be additional damage.” We’ll keep you posted as soon as we have more details.
3:58 pm: Devastating injury news to begin Week 11, as Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had to be carted off the field with a knee injury. Shortly after leaving the game, Burrow confirmed on Twitter that he was done for the season.
“Thanks for all the love. Can’t get rid of me that easy. See ya next year,” the former LSU star wrote to fans. We still don’t have official word on the exact injury, although an ACL tear looked possible based on the way his left knee got rolled up on. Assuming that’s the case, or if it’s hopefully less severe, Burrow should be fully recovered in time to be under center for Week 1 of next year. No matter what, it’s a disappointing end to what had been an exciting rookie campaign.
Cincinnati has struggled mightily but Burrow has been a bright spot in an otherwise bleak season, looking every bit like the number one overall pick. Despite playing behind a patchwork offensive line that frequently had him running for his life, he showed plenty of flashes and had some huge games. The former Heisman Trophy winner will finish his first year as a pro with 2,688 yards, 13 touchdowns, and only five interceptions through nine-plus games.
Ha also added another three scores as a runner. This year was tough, but with some solid weapons around him, the future is bright for this offense. As for the rest of the season, it looks like the Bengals will turn to 2019 fourth-rounder Ryan Finley moving forward. They also have Brandon Allen on the practice squad. Here’s to hoping this turns out to be little more than a small blip on a long career.
Jets Place CB Brian Poole On IR
The Jets’ secondary sure is getting a makeover today. Shortly after releasing starting cornerback Pierre Desir, New York has placed fellow starting corner Brian Poole on injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday.
Poole is dealing with shoulder and knee injuries although head coach Adam Gase indicated recently they weren’t overly serious. With this move, Poole will have to miss at least the next three games. Poole has been playing heavy snaps as a starter, leaving the Jets with a lot of production to replace. He entered the league as an UDFA with the Falcons in 2016, then signed a one-year, $3.5MM contract with the Jets in 2019.
He re-upped with another one-year pact worth $5MM this past offseason. In nine games so far he’s racked up 44 tackles, a sack, seven passes defended, and two interceptions. Rookie fifth-rounder Bryce Hall, just activated off the NFI list, was already going to play a bigger role with Desir gone and now he’s even more important. The Jets are going to have a very young group of corners when they take on Justin Herbert and the Chargers this week. Things could get ugly.
Rams Make Handful Of Roster Moves
The Rams made a handful of roster moves Tuesday afternoon. Los Angeles is signing kicker Matt Gay while placing offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, safety Taylor Rapp, and kicker Kai Forbath on IR, the team announced Tuesday.
Obviously with Forbath going on injured reserve, the team needed a new kicker. They started the year with seventh-round rookie Sam Sloman as their kicker, but replaced him with Forbath after he struggled to start the year. Gay was drafted by the Bucs in the fifth-round last year, and spent 2019 as their kicker. He was waived in September following a training camp battle with veteran Ryan Succop that he lost. He then signed with the Colts’ practice squad, which the Rams just poached him off.
Whitworth of course suffered a torn MCL and PCL during Sunday’s win over the Seahawks. The injury was thought to possibly be season-ending, but head coach Sean McVay indicated recently they were hoping to get him back and that it would sideline him only 6-8 weeks. If that’s the case, then the veteran stud left tackle may be able to return and block Jared Goff‘s blindside for a playoff run. 2018 third-round pick Joseph Noteboom will take his place for the time being.
Rapp is a 2019 second-rounder who was a starter as a rookie and had once again been playing a big role on defense this season. He has an MCL sprain which McVay said will likely sideline him between 3-4 weeks. Meanwhile Forbath has a sprained ankle. Gay will apparently compete with Austin MacGinnis, currently on the practice squad, for the kicking job.
Jets Release Pierre Desir
The 0-9 Jets are making a change on defense. New York is releasing veteran cornerback Pierre Desir, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets.
New York signed him to a one-year deal with a base value of around $4MM and max value of $5.5MM with incentives back in March, hoping he could be their top corner this year. Desir had been playing a near every down role, starting all but one game this season, so this is a pretty big shakeup for Gregg Williams’ defense. Obviously Desir is a vet who is set to be a free agent at the end of the year, so as his play has slipped there’s no reason for the tanking Jets not to get a look at some of their younger guys.
Desir will finish his Jets tenure with 47 tackles, eight passes defended, and three interceptions. The three picks are solid, but Desir often struggled in coverage and was pulled from games a couple of times. A fourth-round pick of the Browns back in 2014, Desir spent his first two years in Cleveland before getting cut. After brief stints with the Chargers and Seahawks, he found a home in Indianapolis.
He was with the Colts for three seasons, and was a full-time starter in 2018 and 2019. After a surprisingly strong 2018 campaign he was rewarded with a three-year, $22.5MM deal, but was cut after just one season of that. Since it’s this late in the year Desir will go on waivers, and it’ll be interesting to see if a contending team in need of secondary help decides to claim his expiring contract. Bryce Hall, a rookie sixth-round pick from Virginia who was recently activated off the NFI list, should be one of the aforementioned young guys who gets more run with the Jets moving forward.
Bengals Waive Takk McKinley
Takk McKinley‘s time with the Bengals is over before it really ever began. Cincinnati waived the defensive end after he failed his physical with the team, they announced on Tuesday.
Cincy had just claimed McKinley off waivers from the Falcons last week. He’ll now revert to waivers, where every team will again have the chance to claim him. In addition to the Bengals, the 49ers, Browns, and Raiders also submitted claims last time. The 49ers have the highest waiver priority among those teams so they’ll presumable be able to get him if they still want him, unless a previously uninterested team decides to pull the trigger.
Atlanta drafted McKinley in the first-round back in 2017, but he never lived up to that status. He had six and then seven sacks in his first two years in the league, but had only 3.5 last season. Through four games and limited playing time this season he only has one, although he’s had a very high pressure rate.
He was hoping to get traded, and accused the Falcons of turning down trade offers for him. After the trade deadline came and went he blasted the team on social media, leading to his release shortly thereafter. McKinley has plenty of talent, and at only 25 makes for a nice low-risk upside addition for teams in need of pass-rushing help. It’ll be interesting to see who jumps at the opportunity the second time around.
Giants, Washington Have COVID-19 Positives
We continue to see a steady uptick in COVID-19 cases around the league, although fortunately they have been mostly isolated incidents with no full-blown outbreaks. Tuesday morning we got word of two more teams with players testing positive, both in the NFC East. The Giants and the Washington Football Team are the latest to be hit with the virus.
The Giants’ player is kicker Graham Gano, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post tweets. Thankfully New York is on bye this week, so Gano should be able to kick by the next time the Giants play a game in Week 12 against Cincinnati assuming there are no complications, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets. The Giants are finally starting to pick up a little steam, so hopefully this remains an isolated incident that has minimal implications because of the bye.
Washington also had a player test positive, and also thankfully it sounds like somewhat of a best-case scenario. The unidentified player hasn’t been in the facility in the past few days and didn’t travel with the team for their game in Detroit last week, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. That’s because the player is currently on injured reserve, Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post tweets.
Washington is going into the intensive protocol, but since he didn’t play in the game the Lions won’t have to and hopefully no other Washington players caught it. Interestingly, as Pelissero noted in a follow-up tweet, Washington was one of only three teams who hadn’t placed a player on the reserve/COVID-19 list during the regular season before now. The only two remaining are the Rams and Seahawks.
Latest On Drew Breees
The top story in the NFL right now remains the injury to Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and exactly how long he’ll be out. We’re still a bit in the dark, but we’ve got a couple new developments to pass along.
Brees is having his scans sent to other experts for a second opinion on his cracked ribs and collapsed lung, a source told Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Brees has five clear rib fractures but could have even more, Werder noted in a follow-up tweet. Werder writes it’ll be the second opinion that determines whether or not Brees goes on injured reserve and in turn misses a minimum of three games.
We originally heard that injured reserve wasn’t being immediately considered, but it now sounds like that’s very much on the table. The absolute best case scenario seems to be that Jameis Winston and/or Taysom Hill fill in for the next couple of games. Ideally Brees would get a few games to readjust before the playoffs start, but he may not have that luxury. In a final tweet Werder says a source told him no determination on the length of his absence will be made until after the second opinions come in, so everything is still in flux.