Carson Palmer Progressing Toward Return
The concussion that forced quarterback Carson Palmer to exit the Cardinals’ 17-13 loss to the Rams last Sunday and kept him from suiting up for their 33-21 win over the 49ers on Thursday is unlikely to limit him going forward. Palmer is in the last stage of the NFL’s concussion protocol, head coach Bruce Arians revealed Friday. Arians also expressed optimism about Palmer’s chances of starting in Week 6.
“I can’t say for sure. But he looked good in there lifting weights,” Arians told reporters, including Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com.
With Palmer on the shelf lately, the Cardinals have turned to veteran backup Drew Stanton, though his results haven’t been pretty. Stanton has completed just 16-of-43 passes for 172 yards to accompany a pair of touchdowns and interceptions this season. Arizona largely won in spite of Stanton in San Francisco, where he connected on a meager 11-of-28 throws for 124 yards and two scores.
Palmer, who’s a year removed from the best season of his career, took a step back in the early going before suffering the concussion. The former Bengal and Raider completed 63.7 of his 537 attempts and posted an 8.71 YPA, 35 scores against 11 picks, and a 104.6 passer rating for the 13-3 Cardinals in 2015. So far this season, the 36-year-old’s rates have fallen off (58.8 percent completion mark, 7.52 YPA, 81.9 rating), and he has already tossed five INTs against six TDs. Nevertheless, Palmer is easily the Cardinals’ top option under center, meaning they’ll need him healthy in order to challenge for a Super Bowl title.
At 2-3, Arizona has been among the league’s biggest disappointments this year. The club, perhaps with Palmer back in the lineup, will hope to build on its Thursday victory when it hosts the Jets in a Week 6 Monday night matchup. After that, five of its next six games come against potential NFC contenders. From Oct. 23 to Dec. 4, the Cardinals’ opponents include the Seahawks, Panthers, Vikings, Falcons and Redskins.
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49ers’ Colin Kaepernick Could Start Week 6
Head coach Chip Kelly left the door open for backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick to grab the reins from Blaine Gabbert after the 49ers’ 33-21 loss to the Cardinals on Thursday. It now appears Kaepernick will start the 49ers’ Week 6 game in Buffalo, multiple sources have told Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link).
Gabbert beat out Kaepernick for the 49ers’ starting role over the summer, but the latter wasn’t in football shape after undergoing surgeries on his left knee, left shoulder and right thumb. It’s unknown how physically ready Kaepernick is now, but whether it’s him or fellow backup Christian Ponder – whom some 49ers players reportedly prefer – the free-falling club needs to make a change under center.
As has been the case for most of his six-year career, Gabbert has performed woefully this season. The 10th overall pick of the 2011 draft and former Jaguar has completed just 58 percent of his 150 passes this year with a 5.93 YPA, five touchdowns against six interceptions, and a 69.6 QB rating. Along the way, the 49ers have lost four in a row after winning their opener in resounding fashion, 28-0, over the Rams.
Of the 49ers’ three signal-callers, Kaepernick has easily enjoyed the most on-field success. Before last season, when his numbers dipped significantly in an injury-shortened year, the 2011 second-rounder from Nevada was a major dual threat who combined for 50 touchdowns and 21 interceptions as a passer from 2012-14 while rushing for over 1,500 yards. He also helped lead San Francisco to a Super Bowl berth during the 2012-13 campaign and a place in the NFC title game the next season.
More recently, Kaepernick’s activism has drawn far more attention than his resume as a player. The 28-year-old has become one of America’s most polarizing athletes in recent memory on account of his refusal to stand for the pregame national anthem. In doing so, Kaepernick is protesting racial injustice in America, and his choice has spurred other NFLers to make similar pregame statements.
Regardless of whether Kaepernick reclaims his old job against the Bills, he could go forward with a restructured contract. Kaepernick and the 49ers are working to amend the long-term deal they reached in 2014, meaning he would be able to void the pact after this season.
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Bills Activate Marcell Dareus
Fresh off two straight wins to even their record at 2-2, the Bills will welcome back one of their cornerstone players in time for a road game against the Rams on Sunday. The team has activated two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, whom the NFL suspended for the season’s first four games for a substance abuse violation. In corresponding moves, the Bills have placed wide receiver Greg Salas on injured reserve with a groin issue and cut guard Terran Vaughn from their practice squad.
Dareus is now coming off his second suspension in as many years, though his ban in 2015 only lasted one game. After the league handed him his latest suspension, the 26-year-old claimed it was the result of a missed drug test. Dareus also declared he’d check into rehab. Neither of those statements proved true, however, as Tim Graham of the Buffalo News reported Wednesday that Dareus did not miss a test – he instead violated the league’s drug program multiple times dating back to his one-game suspension last year. And, in lieu of rehab, Dareus received treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to Jarrett Bell of USA Today. He also sought counsel from Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman Bruce Smith, the Bills’ all-time greatest defender.
Going forward, the Bills will now hope Dareus’ off-field troubles are behind him. The club signed the ex-Alabama star and 2011 third overall pick to a massive extension 13 months ago, but Dareus then had somewhat of a disappointing season as part of an underachieving defense. Dareus posted a career-low sack total last season (two) after piling up 10.5 the previous year and a combined 28.5 from 2011-14. He could now bolster a unit that ranks fourth in the league in sacks, 14th in DVOA and 16th in total defense.
Meanwhile, although Salas missed the Bills’ wins over the past two weeks, his loss is another blow to the depth of a team that’s perilously thin at receiver. With Salas and the highly talented Sammy Watkins on IR, the Bills are left with Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin and Walter Powell as their top three options. Salas hauled in four catches for 89 yards and a touchdown over the season’s first two weeks.
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Steelers Release Bruce Gradkowski
The Steelers have released quarterback Bruce Gradkowski from injured reserve, according to ESPN’s Adam Caplan (Twitter link).
Injuries have been problematic lately for Gradkowski, who landed on IR last month after he suffered a hamstring tear. He previously spent all of last season on IR with shoulder and hand injuries. Nevertheless, Pittsburgh re-signed the journeyman in May, although it only gave him $80K in guarantees on a deal that could have been worth $965K.
Gradkowski joined the Steelers in 2013 and ultimately never attempted a regular-season pass with the club. For his career, the former Toledo Rocket has completed 375-of-709 passes for 4,057 yards, 21 touchdowns and 24 interceptions.
Gradkowski’s exit won’t have an effect on the Steelers’ depth chart, where they’re deep at quarterback. Pittsburgh has experienced backups Landry Jones and Zach Mettenberger behind Ben Roethlisberger.
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Extra Points: 49ers, Bengals, Jets, Cowboys
49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman is done for the season with a torn Achilles, but the 28-year-old doesn’t expect the injury to have long-term effects. “It’s just a minor setback for a major comeback,” he said Thursday (via Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com). It’s the second catastrophic injury over the past three years for Bowman, who previously tore both his ACL and MCL in the 49ers’ NFC title game loss to Seattle in January 2014. Bowman returned last year to improbably earn first-team All-Pro honors for the fourth time on the strength of an NFL-best 154-tackle campaign.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Tight end Tyler Eifert‘s health (or lack thereof) for the rest of the year will determine how extension talks between him and the Bengals go during the offseason, writes Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Eifert missed the Bengals’ first four games of the season because of an ankle injury, and just as he was set to return this Sunday, a back problem came to the fore Wednesday to put his status in question. Various injuries have limited Eifert to just 28 of the Bengals’ 52 regular-season games since they drafted him 21st overall in 2013. The ex-Notre Dame star broke out last season with 52 catches and 13 touchdowns, making a case for big money in the process, but Eifert’s injury history could give Cincinnati pause. Luckily for the Bengals, Eifert’s still under their control next season by way of his fifth-year option, so they still have time to decide whether to make a long-term commitment.
- Contrary to a Wednesday report, the Jets are not considering placing wide receiver Eric Decker on injured reserve, head coach Todd Bowles said Thursday (via Brian Costello of the New York Post). However, Bowles and Decker disagree on whether the wideout is progressing from the partially torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. Bowles told Costello that he hasn’t seen any progress, while Decker said he’s improving each day. Either way, Decker is likely to miss time – albeit an undetermined amount – and may eventually need surgery. “It has been a discussion,” Decker said. “Again, that’s something that, down the road, we’ll have the conversation again and look at it again. They’ll let me know the right thing to do.”
- Aldrick Rosas will be among the kickers auditioning for the Cowboys on Friday, Charean Williams of the Star Telegram tweets. Rosas, formerly of Southern Oregon, signed with the Titans after this year’s draft. They cut him Sept. 2.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Chargers To Promote CB Trevor Williams
The Chargers will promote cornerback Trevor Williams from their practice squad in advance of Sunday’s game against the Raiders, a source told Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The 1-3 Bolts are banged up at corner, which could pose a problem in trying to stop the AFC West rival Raiders (3-1) and their high-flying attack.
In addition to Jason Verrett, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 4, the Chargers are dealing with injuries to Brandon Flowers and Craig Mager. Flowers missed the Chargers’ 35-34 loss to the Saints last Sunday with a concussion and hasn’t practiced this week, while a shoulder injury limited Mager on Thursday.
With Verrett, Flowers and Mager ailing, the door is now open for Williams to make his NFL debut. The Chargers signed Williams as an undrafted free agent from Penn State on April 30. After Williams failed to make San Diego’s final roster on Sept. 3, he quickly joined its practice squad. Williams intercepted five passes in his three years with the Nittany Lions and was an All-Big Ten honorable mention in both 2014 and 2015.
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NFC North Notes: Bears, Jeffery, Lions, Ansah
The latest on the NFC North’s two 1-3 clubs:
- Bears receiver Kevin White‘s injury troubles could make it more difficult for the club to let fellow wideout Alshon Jeffery leave as a free agent after the season, Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times observes. White, whom the Bears chose seventh overall in the 2015 draft, missed all of last season with a tibial stress fracture and is now on injured reserve after suffering a high ankle sprain and a fractured fibula in Week 4. Jeffery, meanwhile, is raking in $14.6MM as Chicago’s franchise player after it was unable to reach a long-term deal with him in the offseason. The Bears will once again have the option of tagging Jeffery after this season, or they could either reach a long-term pact with the fifth-year standout or allow him to hit the open market. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report said in July that one reason the Bears drafted White was so they could avoid signing Jeffery to a lucrative contract, but the former’s inability to stay on the field might put a wrench in that plan.
- The Lions are unlikely to have either defensive end Ziggy Ansah or tight end Eric Ebron against 3-0 Philadelphia on Sunday, reports ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Michael Rothstein). Ansah has missed the majority of the season since succumbing to a high ankle sprain early in Week 2, thus depriving Detroit of its best pass rusher. Ebron, who banged up his knee and ankle in the Lions’ 17-14 loss in Chicago last Sunday, has played through multiple injuries this season. The 23-year-old has been productive, though, as he ranks third on the Lions in receptions (18) and second in yards (210).
- Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan is progressing well since going down with a thumb injury in Week 2 and has a chance to return Sunday against the Colts, he said after practicing Thursday with a cast on his right hand (via Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com). “I led the SEC two years in a row in tackles at Kentucky with a cast on [to protect a wrist injury], so I’m pretty familiar [with playing with one],” the former Bronco stated. “I’m not very limited with the cast. It’s specially made, but I’m just trying to do everything I can to be out there with my teammates come Sunday.” Trevathan is among several key Bears who have missed this time this year, which has contributed to their poor start.
Dez Bryant Likely Out Sunday
Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant will test his injured right knee in practice Friday, but he’s unlikely to play Sunday against the Bengals, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Bryant, who suffered a hairline fracture in Week 3, sat out Dallas’ 24-17 win in San Francisco last Sunday. The 3-1 Cowboys are now set for a more difficult test in the form of the playoff-contending Bengals (2-2).
Injuries have helped cut down Bryant’s production since last season, unfortunately, as the 27-year-old has suited up for just 12 of the Cowboys’ past 20 games. His statistical drop-off has also coincided with the more serious injuries quarterback Tony Romo has dealt with going back to last year.
Romo hasn’t yet taken the field this season because of a back issue, thereby paving the way for rookie Dak Prescott to take the reins. The fourth-rounder from Mississippi State has easily exceeded expectations, having completed 67.9 percent of passes and gone 131 attempts without an interception. Only 11 of Prescott’s 89 completions have gone to Bryant, whom Prescott has targeted 23 times, after the three-time Pro Bowl wideout picked up just 31 grabs and three touchdowns on 74 targets in 2015. Bryant also averaged a career-worst 12.9 yards per catch, which is up slightly this year (13.6).
Off the field, Bryant has reportedly exhibited a “pattern of irresponsible behavior” since the Cowboys drafted him 24th overall in 2010. The ex-Oklahoma State star has missed between 20 and 40 team meetings during his NFL career, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, with a source informing him that Bryant’s longevity is in question because of poor sleep and dietary habits. However, the Cowboys have stuck by the immensely talented Bryant, who is under team control through 2019 thanks to the five-year, $70MM deal he inked in July 2015.
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Cam Newton Unlikely To Play Monday
If the defending NFC champion Panthers are going to start digging out out of a 1-3 hole in Week 5, they might have to do it without quarterback Cam Newton. The reigning NFL MVP remains in concussion protocol as a result of a fourth-quarter hit in the Panthers’ 48-33 loss to the Falcons last Sunday and has missed back-to-back practices. As a result, he’s unlikely to suit up Monday in Tampa Bay, according to Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer.
While it could benefit Newton and the Panthers that he has an extra day to recover, the club only has two light practices remaining before Monday. That doesn’t bode well for a player who must successfully go through the NFL’s various steps to return from a concussion, as Person notes.
Newton hasn’t missed a game since 2014, and the two he sat out that year also came against the NFC South rival Buccaneers (1-3). Derek Anderson, who will start Monday if Newton can’t, completed 49-of-74 passes for 507 yards and three touchdowns in those matchups as he helped the Panthers to a pair of wins. Anderson relieved Newton last week and turned in an uneven performance, connecting on 17-of-23 attempts for 172 yards, two scores and two interceptions.
Newton led the Panthers to a 15-1 record last year while combining for 45 TDs (35 passing, 10 rushing) and nearly 4,500 total yards, but he hasn’t been nearly as effective this season. With five interceptions, the sixth-year man is already halfway to last season’s 16-game total and has also experienced a drop-off in most other major statistical categories. More alarmingly, he has now dealt with concussion questions multiple times in less than a month. In a Week 1 loss to the Broncos, Newton absorbed a handful of helmet-to-helmet hits, though team doctors determined that he didn’t suffer a concussion.
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J.J. Watt Undergoes Back Surgery
Texans defensive end J.J. Watt underwent back surgery Thursday and will likely miss the rest of the season as a result, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (Twitter link). Watt was already expected to miss the remainder of a year on account of a back injury, but the surgery is a new development. He has now undergone two back procedures since July, when he had surgery on a herniated disc. The good news is that Watt will be fine for 2017, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
This season will go down as one to forget for Watt, who didn’t miss any games during his first five years in the NFL. But Watt aggravated his back in the Texans’ 27-0 loss to the Patriots in Week 3, leading Houston to place him on injured reserve Wednesday. Watt hadn’t been his usual dominant self to that point, as the 27-year-old picked up 1.5 sacks in the Texans’ first three games and ranked a pedestrian 72nd in overall performance among Pro Football Focus’ 116 qualified interior D-linemen.
Entering the season, Watt had earned Pro Bowl trips and first-team All-Pro honors in each of the previous four campaigns. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner also nabbed that honor in back-to-back seasons. Since going 11th overall in the 2011 draft, the ex-Wisconsin standout has amassed 76 sacks, 45 passes defended and 15 forced fumbles.
The loss of the incredibly productive Watt is clearly a devastating blow to a 2-1 Houston team with hopes of earning its second consecutive AFC South title. As Roster Resource shows, the Texans’ defensive end group outside of Watt includes Jadeveon Clowney, Joel Heath, Devon Still, Christian Covington, Brandon Dunn, and the recently signed Antonio Smith. Nobody would confuse any of those options with the superhuman Watt, though Clowney was the first overall pick of the 2014 draft. Based on talent, he stands the best chance of posting above-average numbers, but his track record isn’t in Watt’s stratosphere.
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