Eagles Claim Taylor Hart From 49ers
The Eagles have claimed defensive tackle Taylor Hart off waivers from the 49ers and signed cornerback Aaron Grymes to their practice squad, Adam Caplan of ESPN was among those to report (Twitter link). The club has also placed cornerback Ron Brooks on injured reserve and released offensive lineman Matt Rotheram.
Hart will now return to Philadelphia, which selected him in the fifth round of the 2015 draft. After a rookie year in which he totaled 14 appearances, including one start, and 12 tackles, Hart was unable to survive the Eagles’ final cuts in September. The 49ers, led by former Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, then claimed Hart, but he only made one appearance with San Francisco before it cut him. Hart also played under Kelly at Oregon.
Brooks ruptured his quadriceps tendon in the Eagles’ 21-10 win over the Vikings on Sunday, so his placement on IR comes as no surprise. Grymes, who was previously with the Eagles over the summer, worked out for the club Monday before signing and will provide extra organizational depth in Brooks’ absence.
Bears Release Joique Bell
Less than a month after the Bears signed Joique Bell, the team has released the running back, reports Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter link).
Bell, a sixth-year veteran who has spent the majority of his career with the NFC North rival Lions, appeared in four games for the Bears and totaled just three carries. Between his release from the Lions in February and his deal with Chicago, the 30-year-old sat on the open market for several months.
With Bell gone, the Bears will go forward with Jordan Howard, Jeremy Langford and Ka’Deem Carey as their backfield options. Langford has been out since Week 3 with an ankle injury, but he could be nearing a return. Howard and Carey have filled in well in his absence, combining for 459 yards on 96 carries. The lion’s share of work has gone to Howard, a fifth-round rookie who has averaged 4.8 yards per rush on 72 attempts, scored two touchdowns (including one receiving) and caught 14 passes.
Browns Make Handful Of Moves
The Browns have claimed quarterback Joe Callahan off waivers from the Saints and center Gabe Ikard off waivers from the Bills, according to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. To make room for those two, the Browns have waived fullback Malcolm Johnson and defensive back Darius Hillary.
Callahan, an undrafted rookie from Division III Wesley, will now join his third team this month. The Packers previously cut Callahan on Oct. 13, paving the way for the Saints to add him for what amounted to a short-lived stint in New Orleans. The way things have gone under center this year for Cleveland, he could end up on the field at some point.
Injuries have forced the Browns to shuffle through five quarterbacks, the latest being fifth-round rookie Kevin Hogan. He debuted in the Browns’ 31-17 loss to the Bengals on Sunday after fellow rookie Cody Kessler departed with a concussion. Kessler is currently in the NFL’s concussion protocol, meaning it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to play against the Jets on Sunday. Josh McCown, who has missed most of the season with a broken collarbone, could return this week. However, if he and Kessler are out, Hogan and Callahan would be the Browns’ top two signal-callers.
Johnson, whom the Browns chose in the sixth round of last year’s draft, was active for their first seven games this season and picked up one start. He also notched five receptions.
Buccaneers Place Vincent Jackson On IR
SUNDAY, 10:11am: It is still uncertain whether Jackson suffered a complete tear of his ACL, according to Alex Marvez of SiriusXM NFL Radio (via Twitter). He will have another MRI shortly, and Cecil Shorts will get the nod in Jackson’s absence.
TUESDAY, 4:14pm: In what could be a significant blow to their offense, the Buccaneers have placed wide receiver Vincent Jackson on injured reserve with a knee issue. Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report that Jackson has a torn ACL, though ESPN’s Ed Werder suggests that it could be an MCL injury (Twitter links).
Jackson played through the injury in the Buccaneers’ Week 5 win over the Panthers and later realized it didn’t feel right, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). The 33-year-old hauled in three catches for 36 yards against Carolina, giving him 15 receptions and 173 yards on 31 targets this season.
This could be the second straight year in which a knee ailment has ended Jackson’s season early. He missed six games in 2015 and landed on IR in December with a sprained MCL. Prior to last year, Jackson had gone four straight years without missing a game. The two-time Pro Bowler has been highly productive in his 12 combined seasons with the Chargers and Bucs, but it’s possible he’ll never put on Tampa Bay’s uniform again.
Jackson will be a free agent at season’s end, and even before his injury, second-year receiver Adam Humphries had begun taking targets from him. Still, Jackson had started in each of the Buccaneers’ first five games, and his loss will give quarterback Jameis Winston one fewer viable target. Aside from Humphries and No. 1 option Mike Evans, the Bucs aren’t flush with options at wideout, though Louis Murphy is nearing a return from the torn ACL he suffered last October.
AFC Notes: Flacco, Incognito, Jets, Bengals
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has irritation in the joint of his throwing shoulder and was withheld from practice Wednesday to try to improve the situation, according to Ed Werder of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’s not immediately clear whether Flacco will be ready to play against the Jets on Sunday, though head coach John Harbaugh believes he has a “legitimate chance” (via Marc Sessler of NFL.com). If Flacco can’t go, Baltimore will probably look to add a quarterback to place behind Ryan Mallett. The Ravens don’t have any QBs on their practice squad.
Here’s more from the AFC:
- With the Bills’ Richie Incognito preparing to face his former team, the Dolphins, this week, the guard revisited the 2013 Bullygate scandal in Miami that led to a three-month suspension and left him unemployed for a year and a half. “I’m still searching for the lesson in all of it,” Incognito told Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel. League investigator Ted Wells concluded Incognito subjected then-teammate Jonathan Martin to “a pattern of harassment” that included racial slurs. “Jonathan and I were close friends. I cared about him,” Incognito said of Martin. “If anybody was there for Jonathan it was me.” Martin left the Dolphins amid the scandal in 2013 and spent parts of the next two seasons with the 49ers and Panthers. He’s now retired. Incognito has since held his own in Buffalo, which signed him to a one-year contract in February 2015. He went to his second Pro Bowl last season and subsequently re-signed with the Bills on a three-year, $15.75MM deal with $5.4MM in guarantees. “I can sleep good at night knowing what happened and what my actions were. I’m not saying I was a saint. But I sleep well at night knowing what I did,” added Incognito, who maintains that Martin and his camp concocted a false narrative.
- The Jets benched quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in favor of Geno Smith on Wednesday, but Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News isn’t exactly convinced the move will energize the 1-5 team. Restarting the Smith era is “destined to fail,” writes Mehta, whose reasons include the 26-year-old’s poor on-field production since entering and the lack of maturity he has shown in his four NFL seasons. Mehta expects Smith to quickly flame out in his latest audition, thereby paving the way for second-year man Bryce Petty to take the reins under center.
- Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since suffering a back injury Oct. 3, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Thanks to both his back issue and offseason ankle surgery, the 2015 Pro Bowler hasn’t yet debuted this year. That could change Sunday against the Browns, per Dehner, who notes that Eifert was merely a limited participant Wednesday and will need to partake in a full practice before rejoining the Bengals’ lineup. The Bengals have gone a disappointing 2-4 this year without Eifert, who’s coming off an outstanding season. With 52 receptions, 615 yards and 13 touchdowns, the ex-Notre Dame star logged career highs across the board last year.
- The Patriots worked out receiver Dres Anderson and linebacker Trevor Reilly on Wednesday, tweets Doug Kyed of NESN. Anderson went undrafted from Utah last year and spent some time with the 49ers, though he didn’t see any regular-season action. Reilly suited up 29 times and made 10 tackles with the Jets over the previous two seasons.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Latest On Jets’ Quarterback Change
Before Jets head coach Todd Bowles demoted quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to a backup role Wednesday, members of the team’s front office “made it clear” that they wanted Geno Smith to start, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post. Nevertheless, sources told Costello that the decision was ultimately up to Bowles.
Team owner Woody Johnson gave both Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan votes of confidence Wednesday. However, the second-year head coach could face job security questions in the coming months if the team’s skid continues under Smith, per Costello, who writes that Fitzpatrick is unlikely to start another game with the Jets. If Smith stumbles, the team could turn to one of its more recent draft picks, 2015 fourth-rounder Bryce Petty or rookie second-rounder Christian Hackenberg, in an effort to find a long-term solution.
Fitzpatrick and Smith are scheduled to become free agents at season’s end. The younger of the two, Smith, just turned 26 last week and – based on both that and his second-round pedigree – might have untapped potential. The fourth-year man has been subpar during his NFL career, though, having completed just 57.9 percent of passes to accompany 27 touchdowns and 36 interceptions in 32 appearances (29 starts).
Picks have also been a problem for the 33-year-old Fitzpatrick, who’s last in the league in INTs (11) and passer rating (63.4) in 2016. In the latest (and perhaps final) start of his Jets career, Fitzpatrick hit on a mere 16 of 31 passes for 174 yards and a pick in the club’s 28-3 road loss to Arizona on Monday. That dropped the Jets to 1-5, a far cry from the 10-6 mark they posted with an effective Fitzpatrick at the helm last season.
Fitzpatrick expressed disappointment in his relegation to the bench Wednesday, telling reporters – including Kimberley A. Martin of Newsday – that “I don’t like it.” At the same time, he understands Bowles’ choice.
“I haven’t played well. I think that’s the bottom line,” admitted Fitzpatrick. “I’ve been around and been at it long enough to know that when you’re 1-5, usually good things aren’t happening, and it’s not all smiles in the building. So I don’t want to say that I expected it, but it’s not shocking to me that they wanted to change things up.”
With Fitzpatrick on the sidelines, the Smith-led Jets will attempt to begin turning their season around Sunday against the Ravens.
Josh Brown Admitted To Domestic Abuse
Back in August, the NFL suspended Giants kicker Josh Brown for Week 1 as a result of a May 2015 arrest on a fourth-degree misdemeanor domestic violence charge. The NFL came under fire for issuing what many perceived as a light punishment, but the league defended itself by pointing out that Brown’s now-former wife was not willing to participate in an interview to support her claims. Brown, meanwhile, openly disagreed with the notion that he deserved the suspension.
Now, two months after the league disciplined Brown, it’s possible more trouble could be on the way for the 37-year-old. Police documents indicate that Brown admitted to physically abusing Molly Brown in emailed letters, personal journal entries and counseling exercises, reports James Kratch of NJ.com.
“I have physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally been a repulsive man,” Brown wrote in a 2013 journal entry. “I have abused my wife.”
As was previously reported, Molly Brown told police that her husband had been physically violent with her over 20 times, and that she previously had a protection order against him. Furthermore, she alleged that the violence began while she was pregnant with their daughter.
Per the latest details, Molly Brown revealed in her own writings that Josh Brown “pushes, shoves hits me because I challenge him” and “says women like me get hit because we can’t shut up.” Moreover, she provided photographic evidence stemming from his alleged abuse – including bruising on her body – to Robin L. Ostrum, a detective with the King County Sheriff Department in Washington. Ostrum used that material to recommend two charges of fourth-degree domestic violence to the King County Prosecuting Attorney on Sept. 14. The status of the recommended charges is unknown, according to Kratch.
The Giants re-signed Brown to a two-year deal in the offseason, when he was coming off his first Pro Bowl campaign, and garnered criticism for sticking with him after his suspension. Co-owner John Mara also admitted that the team knew of Brown’s arrest at the time it re-signed him.
“Based on the facts and circumstances that we were aware of at that time, we were comfortable with our decision to re-sign him. Nothing that has happened in the mean time to make us question that decision,” Mara said in August (via Kratch). “We attempted to make a informed decision here. We’ll live with the results of that decision.”
It’s unclear whether this new information will affect Brown’s standing with the Giants or lead to further discipline from the league. The former Ram and Seahawk is playing his fourth season in New York.
Latest On Titans’ Ownership, Bon Jovi
Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk insisted Tuesday that the franchise isn’t for sale, but her desire to keep the team could become irrelevant, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
When Strunk’s father, franchise founder Bud Adams, died in 2013, he left equal parts of the franchise to Strunk and two other heirs. The Titans are devoid of a true controlling owner as a result, and the NFL is going to force the franchise to rectify that at some point, according to Florio, who adds that an eventual sale is possible. The league has already penalized Strunk with a six-figure fine this year on account of the Titans’ failure to comply with its ownership rules.
In the event the Titans do go on the block, rock star Jon Bon Jovi would reportedly be a candidate to serve as part of a new ownership group. Bon Jovi refuted that possibility Wednesday, however.
“Let me dispel the rumors right now,” he told John Carucci of the Associated Press. “I wake up to these headlines with my name on them and they’re just not true. I want to make it perfectly clear that the team is not for sale, nor has it ever been, and I respect and admire (late franchise founder) Bud Adams’ legacy. End of story, I wish them all the success in the world.”
While Bon Jovi claims the Titans don’t interest him, Florio expresses skepticism, and Carucci writes that the 54-year-old does want to own an NFL team. That nearly came to fruition when a group including Bon Jovi bid $1 billion on the then-rudderless Bills in 2014, but they fell short of Terry Pegula’s winning offer of $1.4 billion.
“I love the NFL, and I did in fact try to buy the Buffalo Bills, but this has nothing to do with that. All I’m doing – I’m in the music business. End of story,” Bon Jovi declared.
Raiders To File For Relocation In January
The possibility of the Raiders going from Oakland to Las Vegas in the near future continues to become more realistic. The Raiders’ Mark Davis revealed to his fellow NFL owners Wednesday that he plans to file for franchise relocation in January, reports Jim Trotter of ESPN.com.
A decision from the league on whether to approve a move would likely come in March, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report. In an early, 20-team survey Cole conducted, seven are proponents of Davis’ plan, one is against it, and the other 12 are undecided (Twitter links). It’s unclear whether Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was among those Cole asked, but the influential 74-year-old expressed admiration for Las Vegas on Tuesday (via Tom Pelissero of USA Today).
“I think it’s a great matchup, and I’m really impressed by the leadership … and I’m impressed by the fact that financially the people that will be supporting Mark Davis’ effort to bring those Raiders there are as excited as they are about it,” Jones said. “That alone makes me want to be very active and very excited about the Raiders and the possibilities.”
Despite Cole’s pro-Las Vegas survey and Jones’ enthusiasm, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reported Tuesday that wariness of the city exists within the league’s ownership ranks. Specifically, there are concerns over both trading a bigger market for a smaller one and Las Vegas’ status as America’s gambling capital.
“I think in general we don’t like to leave big markets for small markets,” a high-ranking official with one team told Maske. “That’s as big as anything. I think most people are not crazy about that.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed gambling Wednesday, saying that the league is “still very much opposed to legalized gambling on sports. We think that has an impact on the integrity of our game.”
Interestingly, the official Maske spoke with added that “most” in the league would like the Raiders to remain in Oakland. However, the individual conceded that the league might not have another choice if Las Vegas presents the best option for a new stadium. Further, Goodell admitted that “we have been working to see if there are alternatives and we don’t have one” in the Bay Area.
In a statement Wednesday (Twitter link via Pelissero), Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf declared that the city “will not enter a bidding war with Nevada using public funds.” However, along with ex-Raider Ronnie Lott’s group and Alameda County, Schaaf believes “we can offer a serious plan in the coming weeks that is fair to the Raiders, the league, the fans and the Oakland taxpayers to whom I am most responsible.”
While Oakland hasn’t made progress toward a facility that would replace the 50-year-old Coliseum, it’s full steam ahead in Nevada, where Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a bill Monday green-lighting $750MM in public money toward a $1.9 billion domed stadium in Las Vegas. Davis would commit another $500MM ($200MM of which would come from an NFL loan, though a collective bargaining agreement extension might be a requirement), and businessman Sheldon Adelson would contribute $650MM of his money.
After Davis’ Wednesday presentation to owners, which Goodell called “informative” and “factual,” Davis criticized Oakland and praised Las Vegas for the cities’ respective stadium efforts.
“Oakland was in the driver’s seat if they could’ve put together anything. They came up with nothing,” he told the Associated Press. “Las Vegas has already done what it is supposed to do and we have to bring it up to the National Football League and get permission to move to Las Vegas.”
In order for the Raiders to end up in Las Vegas, Davis will need 23 approval votes from the league’s other 31 owners. If that happens, the team could still play in Oakland for the next couple seasons as it awaits stadium construction in Las Vegas. A report Saturday indicated that the Raiders could use UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium as a stopgap. Davis shot down that possibility Wednesday, though, saying it’s unfit to host NFL regular-season games.
Moving to Las Vegas would also require the Raiders to pay the league a relocation fee. That figure is set at $550MM, but Cole reports that the Raiders likely wouldn’t have to pay that much (Twitter link).
Colts Claim Lavar Edwards, Cut Darryl Morris
The Colts have claimed outside linebacker Lavar Edwards off waivers from the Panthers and cut cornerback Darryl Morris, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
Edwards, whom the Panthers waived Tuesday, will now join his eighth organization since entering the NFL as a fifth-round pick of the Titans in 2013. The 26-year-old has only seen regular-season action with half of those teams, and he has just 17 appearances and one start to his name. Edwards suited up for five of the Panthers’ first six games this year before they parted with him. Along the way, he picked up five tackles and the first sack of his career.
Morris, also 26, saw action in the Colts’ first six contests this season and logged one start, though Pro Football Focus ranks his 2016 performance just 93rd among 112 qualifying corners. Prior to signing with the Colts in early September, Morris combined for 36 appearances and a start as a member of the 49ers and Texans from 2013-15. Morris joined the Jets as a free agent in March, but he was unable to survive their final roster cuts.