Interim HC Thomas Brown, DC Eric Washington To Call Plays For Bears
With the departure of former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, Chicago was forced to do some shuffling of the coaching staff just weeks after the firing of former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron necessitated some shuffling of its own. 
Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported today that, with Thomas Brown continuing his in-season ascension from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator to interim head coach, wide receivers coach Chris Beatty has been named the team’s new offensive coordinator. Beatty, who just started coaching in the NFL in 2021 as the Chargers’ receivers coach, had reportedly been very involved in the passing game since Brown had taken over offensive play-calling duties from Waldron.
While Beatty will officially get his first offensive coordinator title in the move, Brown will retain play-calling duties as interim head coach. This is the second season in a row that Brown has taken over play-calling duties for a fired boss and the second season in a row in which his head coach has been fired. Last year, Brown didn’t call plays as offensive coordinator of the Panthers until then-head coach Frank Reich ceded the duties to him shortly before losing his job.
After Waldron was fired for putting up only 27 points in the three weeks prior, the Bears have scored 19, 27, and 20 points in the three games with a Brown-led offense. He’ll continue calling plays for Caleb Williams and company for the remainder of the year.
Similar to Brown’s situation in Carolina last year, Eberflus also held play-calling duties before getting fired. Those defensive play-calling duties will now officially be passed down to defensive coordinator Eric Washington, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Washington got his first defensive coordinator gig for the Panthers in 2018, but near the end of the season, then-head coach Ron Rivera took over play-calling duties from Washington. He retained his coordinator role in 2019, but Rivera continued calling plays until his midseason dismissal.
Right now, I think it’s safe to say that none of Brown, Beatty, or Washington will be favorites to retain their roles at the moment. With Chicago investing in a new start behind their No. 1 overall draft pick, Williams, they’ll likely search for a coaching staff that works best around him, like Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who mentored Williams at USC.
Still, all three coaches have five weeks to show exactly what they have to offer in their current roles. Brown has been interviewing for a number of head coaching jobs around the NFL in the past several years and finally has a chance to audition for teams looking to fill the position this offseason. Beatty’s young coaching career in the NFL has a chance to continue escalating with this new coordinator experience, and Washington has finally received a second chance at calling defensive plays. Five weeks is plenty of time to set some new narratives.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/2/24
Monday’s minor transactions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Activated from IR: DT Ruke Orhorhoro
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed to active roster: LB Shaka Heyward
- Waived: WR Trenton Irwin
Cleveland Browns
- Signed to active roster: DT Jowon Briggs
- Elevated: WR Kadarius Toney, WR Michael Woods
- Waived: QB Bailey Zappe
Denver Broncos
- Elevated: G Nick Gargiulo
New York Jets
- Signed to active roster: RB Kene Nwangwu
- Waived: RB Israel Abanikanda
Philadelphia Eagles
- Waived: WR Parris Campbell
Seattle Seahawks
- Waived: WR Laviska Shenault Jr.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Waived: P Trenton Gill
Washington Commanders
- Activated from reserve/suspended list: CB Kevon Seymour
- Signed to active roster: K Zane Gonzalez
The Falcons get the second-round rookie, Orhorhoro, back from injured reserve for the closing stretch of the season. The Clemson-product has seen minimal time in his first NFL season, rotating in for only four games so far, but Atlanta will take whatever help it can get on a defense that is dead-last in the league with only 15 sacks on the year.
Zappe was signed off the Patriots’ practice squad following Deshaun Watson‘s placement on IR. Jameis Winston has performed admirably in relief of Watson, and the team must have confidence in second-year backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson behind him.
Shenault continues to struggle to find a place on an NFL offense, but he did carve out a role as a strong kick returner in Seattle this year. That added ability may help him find another roster spot soon.
Gill is the second punter the Buccaneers have waived this year. Gill’s yards per punt average of 43.3 currently ranks for 33rd in the NFL.
Seymour has served the league’s six-game suspension for violating its performance-enhancing drugs policy and is now able to return to the field.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/2/24
Today’s practice squad updates:
New England Patriots
- Signed: LB Andrew Parker Jr.
- Released: LB Joe Giles-Harris
Saints TE Taysom Hill Suffers ACL Tear
DECEMBER 2: Hill is indeed out for the rest of the year, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. He suffered an ACL tear in addition to other damage, Rapoport adds. Attention will turn to recovery in anticipation of the 2025 campaign with Hill looking to reprise his role as a versatile figure on offense upon return.
DECEMBER 1: The Saints lost their do-it-all Swiss Army knife in today’s loss to the Rams. Veteran offensive weapon Taysom Hill was carted off with a knee injury, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that the injury is feared to be season-ending. 
Hill hasn’t had much of a history with injury during his NFL career, only missing multiple games due to injury in one of his seven previous seasons. Today’s injury, though, will likely force the BYU product to miss the team’s remaining five games.
Hill’s role with the Saints has evolved over the course of his career. The versatile athlete was claimed off of waivers by New Orleans after initially signing with the Packers as an undrafted free agent. After not appearing much his rookie year, the Saints utilized Hill mostly in the rushing game, sparsely using him as a receiver or quarterback in 2018. 2019 saw him develop as a receiver, with Hill catching a career-high six touchdowns that year.
The 2020 and 2021 seasons saw Hill’s receiving impact reduced as he began finding starts at his college position of quarterback, making nine starts at the position in the two years combined. The team made use of his arm but mostly concentrated on his running ability, allowing him to rack up 13 rushing touchdowns in that time.
In 2022, Hill returned to a primarily rushing role, notching a career-high 575 rushing yards while adding on seven touchdowns on the ground and two receiving, matching his career high in total touchdowns. Last season showed perhaps his most versatile season as his 401 rushing yards (four touchdowns) and 291 receiving yards (two touchdowns) combined for the most scrimmage yards in a season for his career.
This year, Hill is the team’s second leading rusher with 268 yards while matching Alvin Kamara with six rushing touchdowns. In the receiving game, Hill is fifth on the team with 18 receptions and has added 150 yards to his scrimmage yard total. Juwan Johnson will continue to perform as the team’s primary receiving tight end, while Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller are sure to benefit from some additional touches in the run game.
Because of his history at BYU, Hill entered the league at 27 years old and is 34 today. The veteran is due a $10MM base salary in his 35-year-old season, and the Saints don’t have much incentive to cut him as it would only free up $277K in cap space and leave them with $17.71MM in dead money in his contract year. It will be interesting to see how a player of his age and usage will be able to rebound from such a severe injury, but if he can, he has every incentive to return in 2025.
The Saints will have Hill undergo an MRI in order to determine the severity of the injury, but all signs are currently pointing to the initial diagnosis of a season-ending knee injury. If confirmed, a move to injured reserve for the remainder of the season is likely in order to free up a roster spot.
Patriots Rumors: Strange, Robinson, Peppers
Patriots interior offensive lineman Cole Strange has yet to make his 2024 season debut, but when he does, it may not be in the same position he has been playing for New England in the early years of his career. Though the team designated Strange to return from the reserve/physically unable to perform list back on November 20, he has been unable to be activated to date. Despite the delay, head coach Jerod Mayo claims that “the plan remains for Strange to play this season,” per ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
The 2022 first-round pick has started 27 games in his first two seasons with the team, all at left guard. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has insisted that upon his return, Strange will get looks at all three interior positions. Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald provided the report that Strange would be tried at left guard, center, and right guard over the next few weeks. Kyed later provided an update that the focus will be moving Strange to center.
Here are a few other rumors coming out of New England:
- The Patriots have been starting Michael Jordan at left guard, but after waiving the veteran lineman and signing him to the practice squad this week, it became apparent that a change was in the works. Reiss was the first to report early this morning that replacing Jordan in the starting lineup today would be fourth-round rookie Layden Robinson. The Texas A&M-product played only right guard in college and in the first six starts of his career this year, but Jordan’s demotion opened the door for Robinson to make a move on the left guard position. With little to play for in the rest of this season, New England will have a chance to evaluate whether or not Robinson has a future on the left side of the line.
- The latest on the domestic violence charges facing Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers came last week. Per Reiss, the hearing for the case was completed on November 22. The next key date for the case will reportedly be a jury trial set for January 22.
NFL Contract Notes: Henry, Barkley, Smith, Reddick, Hubbard
Ravens running back Derrick Henry has been enjoying a phenomenal first season in Baltimore. The team signed him to a two-year, $16MM deal that saw him receive $9MM in cash in the first year. Henry’s deal also came with five $500K incentives.
His incentives are maxed out at $2MM, so he can only cash in on four of those five incentives, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. So far this year, Henry has hit on three incentives: 1,200 rushing yards, 13 total touchdowns, and 15 total touchdowns.
The remaining two incentives would require him to reach 1,500 rushing yards or would require the team to win the Super Bowl. While the Ravens still have a ways to go in order to get to the big game, Henry only needs 93 yards in the team’s final four games in order to max out his incentives.
Here are a few other contract notes from around the NFL:
- Eagles running back Saquon Barkley also is tracking down some incentives. Smartly, none of Barkley’s incentives revolve around rushing touchdowns, thanks to the infamous “tush push,” per Garafolo and Ian Rapoport. Barkley will earn $250K if he reaches 1,500 scrimmage yards (he’s 36 yards away from that total after today’s game in Baltimore) and an additional $250K if he reaches 2,000. Additionally, each incentive acts as an escalator for next year’s base salary, adding a potential $1MM to his total contract value. He also would receive $250K for a second-team All-Pro or Pro Bowl selection and $500K for a first-team All-Pro selection. That incentive would act as an escalator for next year, as well. Lastly, Barkley would earn $250K each for victories in the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl.
- Jets left tackle Tyron Smith may have just been placed on injured reserve, but his health up to that point had been paying dividends. His recent injury history required him to settle for a heavily incentivized contract with only $6.5MM in base salary and $12MM in playing time incentives. By playing every snap through nine games, Smith essentially qualified for the 50% of offensive snaps threshold that earns him $2.75MM. Every additional game after that would essentially net him an additional $1MM, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, with the final five games being worth $1.25MM per week. Unfortunately, he only fit one game in before moving to IR. He could make his way back to earn a couple more incentives, but New York may prefer to get an extended look at their tackle of the future, Olu Fashanu, instead.
- Also in New York, pass rusher Haason Reddick still has an opportunity to earn some playing time incentives after ending his holdout, per Cimini. Through the four games (before today) Reddick has appeared in, he has played 179 of 275 defensive snaps, good for about 43 percent. If he can keep that percentage over 40, he’ll earn a $791,628 incentive bonus, but his last two games have seen him only play 37 percent of the team’s snaps, so that bonus may be in danger. Reddick could also earn a $500K bonus if he reaches eight sacks, but with only 0.5 sacks through five games with only five more remaining, that incentive feels out of reach.
- Lastly, we saw the Panthers reward running back Chuba Hubbard with a recent four-year, $33.2MM extension. Per our friends at OvertheCap.com, the deal comes with a signing bonus of $7.71MM and only sees the first year’s base salary guaranteed.
NFC Injury Updates: Warner, Wright, Paschal
49ers linebacker Fred Warner is having an outstanding season, grading out as the best linebacker in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). The veteran’s impressive display is happening despite an apparent injury.
According to Nick Wagoner of ESPN, Warner recently reported that he’s been dealing with a fractured bone in his ankle. The injury reportedly occurred in a matchup with the Patriots, which took place all the way back on September 29. This means that Warner has been playing through the injury for eight weeks with only the bye week as respite.
Warner doesn’t expect to miss anytime, planning to continue to play through the injury. “Anytime you fracture a bone, if you just continue to play on it, the bone is usually not going to be able to heal itself. So (I) just (have) got to continue to just fight through.”
Here are a few other updates on injuries across the NFC:
- The Bears were dealt a number of blows during Thursday’s Thanksgiving game. The most concerning of these blows was a knee injury that saw right tackle Darnell Wright carted off the field, per Gene Chamberlain of Sports Illustrated. Luckily, the mid-week game gives Chicago ten days to rest and recover, but the location of the injury is troublesome as Wright’s only missed time this year (three weeks ago) came as a result of a knee injury. It will be something to watch for in early injury reports when the team attends practice this week under new interim head coach Thomas Brown.
- The Lions cannot afford to lose any more bodies on the defensive line. There was initially some concern that defensive end Josh Paschal might be in trouble after suffering a non-contact knee injury on Thursday, but things are looking up. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, “Paschal’s knee injury is not believed to be serious.” He will likely require some physical rehabilitation, but the injury will not be a season-ending one, as was initially feared.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/30/24
Saturday’s minor moves and standard gameday practice squad elevations:
Atlanta Falcons
- Elevated: K Riley Patterson, LB Josh Woods
Baltimore Ravens
- Elevated: LB William Kwenkeu, DE Chris Wormley
- Placed on IR: TE Charlie Kolar (story), CB Arthur Maulet
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from reserve/PUP: OLB Amaré Barno
- Elevated: WR Dan Chisena, TE Stephen Sullivan
- Waived: OLB Thomas Incoom
Cleveland Browns
- Signed to active roster: TE Blake Whiteheart
- Placed on IR: TE Geoff Swaim
Houston Texans
- Elevated: TE Irv Smith Jr., WR Jared Wayne
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed to active roster: G Atonio Mafi
- Elevated: G Mark Glowinski, WR Laquon Treadwell
- Waived: LB Liam Anderson
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Elevated: WR Elijah Cooks
Minnesota Vikings
- Elevated: TE Nick Muse, CB Nahshon Wright
New England Patriots
- Elevated: LB Keshawn Banks, G Michael Jordan
New Orleans Saints
- Signed to active roster: G Kyle Hergel
- Elevated: WR Kevin Austin, WR Dante Pettis
- Waived: S Millard Bradford
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed to active roster: WR Parris Campbell
- Elevated: LB Ochaun Mathis, TE C.J. Uzomah
- Placed on IR: LB Ben VanSumeren (story)
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed to active roster: CB Nick McCloud
- Elevated: LB Jalen Graham, T Sebastian Gutierrez
Seattle Seahawks
- Elevated: QB Jaren Hall, S Ty Okada
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Elevated: QB Michael Pratt
Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo is listed as questionable, but head coach Raheem Morris is confident he’ll play, calling Patterson an emergency option.
Speculation out of Baltimore was that Maulet wouldn’t require a second stint on injured reserve with his calf injury, but that intel appears to have been off. Maulet and Kolar could potentially make a return in time for the postseason, but they’ll miss four games before they do.
VanSumeren served double-duty as a fullback and linebacker. With his placement on IR, Uzomah was targeted as a possibility to fill in at fullback.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/30/24
Today’s practice squad transactions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: G Jovaughn Gwyn
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: LB Michael Barrett, G Marquis Hayes
- Released: WR Malik Knowles
Chargers Place RB J.K. Dobbins, S Alohi Gilman On IR
The Chargers continue to deal with injuries in the running game, placing a running back on injured reserve for the second time this year. A couple weeks after the return of Gus Edwards from IR, J.K. Dobbins has been placed on the injured list. Joining Dobbins in an absence of at least four weeks is safety Alohi Gilman. 
It’s frustrating news for Dobbins, who will fail to play a healthy, full season for the first time since his rookie year. Dobbins missed a game with a COVID-19 designation in his rookie season and, since then, has missed the entire 2021 season, nine games the following year, and 16 games last year. Through 12 weeks this season, it finally looked like Dobbins was going to put together a full season. Instead, the 25-year-old will miss the next four games, at least, with a sprained MCL. He’ll hope to come back for a potential playoff run at the end of the season.
Gilman is dealing with a hamstring injury that will cause him to miss his first game of the season since Week 2. Gilman’s in the first year of a new contract, after securing an extension by grading out as the seventh-best safety in the league last year, according to Pro Football Focus. Gilman has slumped in 2024, ranking 80th out of 89 graded safeties, per PFF. He’ll hope to make a return late in the season to try and turn things around.
The Chargers will fill one of the two vacated roster spots by signing veteran safety Tony Jefferson to the 53-man roster from the practice squad. The 32-year-old has extensive starting experience and has appeared in three games this year for Los Angeles. He’ll likely be included in the plan to replace Gilman over the next several weeks.
The team also named cornerback Dicaprio Bootle and linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste as standard gameday practice squad elevations for this weekend.