Colts Unlikely To Trade Anthony Richardson
Anthony Richardson has not had the smoothest start to his NFL career. After a recent benching in favor of veteran backup Joe Flacco, many teams have reportedly reached out to Indianapolis in hopes of acquiring the 22-year-old passer. According to Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports, “a trade is considered unlikely.” 
There are several factors that contributed to the benching of Richardson. League-low completion percentages on passes when not pressured, under pressure, not blitzed, blitzed, and to open targets have brought many questions concerning his ability as a passer to the surface. Additionally, there has been a continuation of draft concerns over his medical history after seeing him miss all but four games his rookie season and miss two games this year with injury.
The Colts’ decision to move forward with Flacco as the team’s starter could be for two reasons: they believe Flacco provides them the best chance to win games this year or they did not want to force Richardson to continue broadcasting his struggles on national television. Regardless, an admission to tapping out of last week’s game due to exhaustion was viewed as a “last straw” for the Colts, ultimately leading Richardson to the bench.
While protecting the feelings of a quarterback may seem like an unsatisfactory reasoning, it’s something we’ve seen in the NFL before. For rookies, franchises want to build confidence in their young passers, getting them snaps early to help acquaint them with the speed of the pro game. Sometimes, when a young quarterback is struggling in a game and the team is down bad, we see the backup come in. This serves the purpose of keeping the younger passer healthy, while protecting his confidence from getting broken by a team that has already gotten the better of him.
Similarly, some pundits, like Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, assert that the Colts could be protecting Richardson from a potential disastrous matchup with the Vikings on a national stage for Sunday Night Football tonight. If they truly don’t want to give up on Richardson as the future of their franchise, they may have a vested interest in keeping his confidence high by avoiding tough matchups.
It does seem, too, that the Colts have not given up on Richardson’s long-term development. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, in a meeting with team brass, Richardson was given examples like Jordan Love and Alex Smith — quarterbacks who found their stride in the NFL after years. His team hasn’t given up on him either as offensive and defensive captains, guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, both expressed views that the locker room believes in Richardson’s development moving forward, according to ESPN’s Stephen Holder.
Around the league, many other team executives are calling the Colts’ decision-making into question. Some are using hindsight to say the right decision would’ve been to keep Richardson on the bench as a rookie, not rushing him onto the field and allowing him to develop on the bench, per Jeff Howe of The Athletic. Others are pointing out that, while playing Flacco may give them a better chance to win right now, benching Richardson is short-sighted when considering future seasons.
This seems to be a microcosm of a bigger issue in the NFL with quarterback development. Along with Bryce Young in Carolina, Richardson is the second top 2023-drafted quarterback to get benched this season for a seasoned veteran. Especially as veteran quarterbacks who faltered early in their careers, like Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, and even Justin Fields, find success in more fitting systems after years of development, we’re starting to see a return to thinking in the NFL that perhaps it’s best for rookies to sit and learn.
For now, that seems to be the intention in Indianapolis. The grizzled veteran Flacco is set to take the reins of the offense tonight. Richardson will have an opportunity to get fully healthy while watching and learning from a Super Bowl winning quarterback who has worked with five different teams in his career. This benching shouldn’t be perceived as the end of Richardson’s opportunity as a starter. Many believe that he will take his place with a first-team offense under center again at some point in time, and there are still some who believe that it will occur in Indianapolis.
Some Panthers Players Unavailable In Trade Market
The Panthers are tied with six other teams at the bottom of the NFL with a 2-7 record, solidifying them as sellers at this year’s fast-approaching trade deadline. While it seems like no pieces would be off-limits in what has been a multi-year rebuild, the media has been reporting otherwise. 
Mosty notably, we continue to hear that second-year quarterback Bryce Young is not available in the trade market. Young was benched in Week 3 of the season, leading to several rumors that the former No. 1 overall pick could be available for a potential trade. Though Carolina denied such rumors, plenty of teams called the Panthers inquiring about obtaining the 23-year-old. Diana Russini of The Athletic’s latest report confirms the Panthers’ position that they are “not considering moving the quarterback.”
Young was forced back into the starting lineup last week as Andy Dalton dealt with a thumb injury, and though Carolina lost the contest, the coaching staff was reportedly “encouraged by his improvements and overall commitment to the team.” Young started today, as well, and though his numbers didn’t jump off the stat sheet, he delivered a win to keep the team out of the divisional basement. Russini asserts that, even if the Panthers ultimately do trade Young, they’d get better value for him in the offseason.
While Russini doesn’t believe Young is available in a trade, she does note running back Miles Sanders and edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney as names to look for. This notion was challenged by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who claimed that Clowney was “more likely than not” staying in Carolina. Clowney had a resurgent 9.5-sack 2023 season with the Ravens but has only been able to amass one sack so far this year in Carolina. He under contract for next year, as well, which makes him more attractive as a trade option who would stick around for more than just the next nine weeks, but Rapoport is under the impression that he remains with the Panthers.
In addition to Young and Clowney, Peter Schrager of FOX Sports reported this morning that he’s been hearing that cornerback Jaycee Horn and running back Chuba Hubbard are also not likely to be moved. Horn has had trouble staying on the field in his first three years, but he’s been healthy in 2024, and the Panthers picked up his fifth-year option for next year, as well. Hubbard is playing in a contract year after a breakout season, so it’d make sense to move him, but like Young, Clowney, and Horn, it appears that he’ll be finishing out the year in Carolina.
Bengals TE Erick All Suffers Torn ACL
The Bengals are picking themselves up off the floor after a 1-4 start to open the year, earning their fourth win of the season to take them to 4-5 today. Today’s win over the Raiders, though, came with an unfortunate development as there are fears that tight end Erick All suffered a torn ACL that will end his 2024 rookie campaign, per Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports. Head coach Zac Taylor has since confirmed the news. 
All was a fourth-round pick for the Bengals out of Iowa, who has become a virtual tight end factory for the NFL after producing players like George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson, Noah Fant, and Sam LaPorta. All was the latest of this group, spending just one year in the Hawkeyes’ system after transferring from Michigan, where he spent his first four years of college as a Wolverine. His time in Iowa City yielded 21 catches for 299 yards and three touchdowns.
In his rookie season, All has shown flashes of promise as the TE2 in Cincinnati. Though veteran Mike Gesicki leads the position room in targets (30), catches (25), and yards (253), All (18 catches on 20 targets for 134 yards) is not far behind. No tight ends had caught touchdowns for the Bengals this year until Week 9, with Gesicki recording two. The veteran addition is on a one-year deal in Cincinnati, which created an easy path for All to take over the TE1 job in 2025 if he showed enough promise as a rookie.
Instead, the remainder of All’s rookie season is likely to be spent in recovery. He should have enough time to be ready for the 2025 regular season, though there’s little room for setbacks. In the meantime, Gesicki will find himself alone atop the tight end depth chart while the Bengals look for a replacement well-equipped to handle All’s run blocking duties.
Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott Not Traveling With Team For Disciplinary Reasons
NOVEMBER 3, 07:51am: Adding further context to the situation, Jane Slater of the NFL Network reports that Elliott has been “distracted” this season, which has led to “habitual tardiness.” Elliott has also missed three team meetings this year, and after he failed to attend such a meeting on Friday, both he and the Cowboys determined that it would be better if he did not attend the club’s Week 9 matchup with the Falcons.
NOVEMBER 2, 9:47pm: No single incident is believed to be at the heart of today’s move, per Hill, who adds Elliott attended practice today. Rather, tension between team and player has been building over a period of weeks before the decision was reached to keep him absent from the organization for Week 9. It will certainly be interesting to see how this situation develops moving forward.
NOVEMBER 2, 3:10pm: The Cowboys will be short one of their two main rushers in Atlanta tomorrow as DLLS’ Clarence Hill Jr. reports that veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott will not be traveling with the team for this week’s game. ESPN’s Todd Archer adds that Elliott’s new game status is the result of “disciplinary reasons.” 
While the loss may not seem critical, as Elliott has only accumulated 149 rushing yards in seven games this season, Elliott is the only running back on the team to score a rushing touchdown this year. He is responsible for two of the team’s three rushing scores all season. Stats like this underline how the Cowboys have ended up being the league’s 32nd-best running offense through eight weeks of football. With only 519 rushing yards on the season, the Cowboys are 113 yards behind the 31st-place Raiders and 1,081 yards behind the league-leading Ravens.
At 29 years old, Elliott is far-removed from his days of leading the league in rushing back in 2016 and 2018. He hasn’t rushed for 1,000 yards since 2021. Elliott has missed games with injury before and he’s been a healthy scratch in games before, but this is the first time Elliott will miss a game as a healthy scratch in a game that isn’t in the last week of the season.
With Elliott out, the league’s worst rushing offense will depend more heavily on starter Rico Dowdle, who has 246 rushing yards this season but adds an element through the air, as well, with 131 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. The only other active roster running back is the diminutive Deuce Vaughn, though the team has announced that it will elevate veteran rusher Dalvin Cook for the game tomorrow. Cornerback Josh Butler will join Cook for the week off of the practice squad.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/2/24
Today’s minor NFL moves including standard gameday practice squad elevations for Sunday’s slate of games:
Arizona Cardinals
- Elevated: DL Ben Stille
Atlanta Falcons
- Elevated: CB Natrone Brooks, DE Demone Harris
Baltimore Ravens
- Elevated: NT Josh Tupou, DE Chris Wormley
Carolina Panthers
- Signed to active roster: TE Jordan Matthews
- Elevated: CB Caleb Farley, WR Deven Thompkins
Chicago Bears
- Elevated: T Jake Curhan, CB Reddy Steward
Cincinnati Bengals
- Elevated: T Devin Cochran, WR Kendric Pryor
Cleveland Browns
- Elevated: DT Sam Kamara
Denver Broncos
- Elevated: LB Kwon Alexander, FB Michael Burton
Detroit Lions
- Signed to active roster: LB Abraham Beauplan, DL Chris Smith
- Elevated: OLB Al-Quadin Muhammad, TE Shane Zylstra
- Released: TE Parker Hesse
Green Bay Packers
- Elevated: CB Kamal Hadden
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Elevated: WR Elijah Cooks, WR Austin Trammell
- Placed on IR: WR Christian Kirk (story)
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed to active roster: TE Peyton Hendershot
- Placed on IR: TE Jared Wiley
Los Angeles Rams
- Elevated: LB Elias Neal, P Ty Zentner
Miami Dolphins
- Elevated: DT Neil Farrell, LS Matt Overton
New Orleans Saints
- Signed to active roster: S Millard Bradford, CB Shemar Jean-Charles, RB Jordan Mims
- Elevated: CB Tre Herndon, S Roderic Teamer
- Placed on IR: WR Bub Means, RB Kendre Miller
- Waived: G Kyle Hergel
Philadelphia Eagles
- Elevated: TE E.J. Jenkins
Tennessee Titans
- Signed to active roster: CB Justin Hardee, RB Joshua Kelley, WR Bryce Oliver
- Elevated: C Corey Levin, QB Trevor Siemian
- Placed on IR: OL Andrew Rupcich
- Waived: TE Thomas Odukoya
Washington Commanders
- Elevated: RB Chris Rodriguez Jr.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/2/24
Saturday’s practice squad moves:
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: TE Anthony Firkser
Giants Place K Greg Joseph On IR, Elevate Irish Gaelic Footballer
The Giants were forced to scramble early in the season when kicker Graham Gano went down with a groin injury in Week 2. Now, as Gano’s replacement Greg Joseph deals with an abdominal injury, New York will get creative once again. Per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, Joseph’s injury will land him on injured reserve, and the team will utilize a standard gameday practice squad elevation on kicker Jude McAtamney to replace him this weekend. 
In the aftermath of the Gano injury, Joseph was signed off of the Lions’ practice squad. The Giants had auditioned a number of free agent kickers but opted instead for Joseph, who was waiting in the wings behind UFL star Jake Bates. Joseph has been admirable in replacement duty, converting 13 of his 16 field goal attempts, with all three misses coming from beyond 40 yards. He also assisted an uninspiring offense, converting all six of the extra points he was asked to kick.
New York had ruled out Joseph for tomorrow’s game with the injury to his abdomen already, but placing him on IR means that he’ll miss at least three additional contests. The Giants are not going external once again to fill their newly vacant kicker position, instead choosing to elevate the practice squad kicker McAtamney. He seemingly was not prepared to step up in Week 3, but the Giants will trust him to debut in the NFL tomorrow.
McAtamney is a former Gaelic football player from North Ireland. After gaining an interest in American football, McAtamney trained with ProKick Australia and moved to America to play at Chowan University and Rutgers. He made 12 of 18 field goal attempts for the Scarlet Knights with a long of 49 yards and converted 23 of 24 extra points. As a native Irishman, McAtamney qualified for the NFL’s international roster exemption, allowing him to be on the Giants’ practice squad without counting towards the 16-man limit.
Joining McAtamney from the practice squad tomorrow will be outside linebacker Tomon Fox, who is not being elevated but signed to the active roster to fill the roster spot vacated by Joseph. Filling Fox’s spot on the practice squad is versatile fullback/tight end Jakob Johnson, who rejoins the team after being released on Wednesday.
Bigger Role In Vegas For Tom Brady In Future?
As the NFL attempted to frame Tom Brady‘s partial-acquisition of the Raiders in a fair light, promises that his ownership role would be “passive” were plentiful. The same day that the deal went through, though, Raiders owner Mark Davis was already insinuating that Brady would have a role in selecting the team’s quarterback of the future. So, what exactly does the future hold for Brady in Sin City? 
Currently, Brady faces several restrictions on his roles both as an owner and as an announcer. The two roles provide too many overlapping opportunities to create an unfair competitive environment. Those restrictions include an inability to go to other NFL team’s facilities, sit in on production meetings for FOX, or witness practices.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated is of the opinion that Brady’s innate competitiveness will likely keep him from remaining under those restrictions. In order to shed them, though, Brady will eventually have to make concessions, and odds don’t seem to favor his broadcasting gig. Luckily for the NFL, Brady’s competitiveness won’t be putting him on the field. According to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, in addition to agreeing to the aforementioned restrictions, Brady also promised not to unretire.
While Brady’s role as owner could increase in the future, there’s a possibility that his involvement in the partial sale was as a pawn in a larger plan. Per Breer, there’s a theory that Tom Wagner, Brady’s business partner who assisted in the collective purchase, could be part of the eventual succession plan for Davis as majority owner.
Unlike with some other franchise owner situations, Davis does not have children or siblings. In fact, his mother, Carol, is technically in possession of the ownership shares of the team. Should she pass away, costly estate taxes could make things difficult for Davis. Wagner, chairman of Birmingham City F.C. in the English Football League One, has experience with franchise ownership and is familiar with many other NFL team owners. He could be high on the list of possibilities to replace Davis after getting his foot in the door with the Brady-sale.
Brady’s involvement in the sale helped to facilitate a massive discount that made the purchase much easier for Wagner. While Brady’s role in team-building and game-planning may increase in the future as his competitive drive takes over, his involvement in the sale may just have been a small piece of a larger succession plan.
Trade Candidate: Brandon Scherff
Since leaving his long-time Washington home, career right guard Brandon Scherff has not been the perennial Pro Bowl player he once was. Still, Scherff is a reliable veteran starter that would improve many teams’ offensive lines. That’s perhaps why many organizations are now reaching out about trading for the 33-year-old, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. 
Scherff was a dominant guard during his time in Washington. After an impressive rookie season, there was a stretch during which Scherff made five Pro Bowls in six seasons, only missing out during a season that saw him miss half the season on injured reserve. Two years after his only first-team All-Pro season, Scherff signed as a free agent in Jacksonville. While his three years with the Jaguars certainly haven’t seen him excel in a new city, his availability and experience are well worth taking a flyer on for teams making a push late this season.
Notably, the Jaguars have already shown a willingness to sell off contributing pieces, shipping out defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris two weeks ago to Seattle. This willingness to participate in trades has multiple teams working on other veterans like Scherff and left tackle Cam Robinson.
Coming into today, the Jaguars were third in the AFC South with a 2-5 record, with only the lowly Titans (1-5) behind them. If Jacksonville is unable to start turning things around, it’s going to be difficult to turn down decent offers for some veteran players. With Scherff on the final year of his three-year contract, it makes sense to take what they can get before losing him for nothing in free agency.
NFL Injury Updates: Jets, Hufanga, Dennis
The Jets provided an unfortunate update on Friday, with Connor Hughes of SportsNet New York reporting that starting guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, starting safety Ashtyn Davis, and defensive tackle Leki Fotu would all be out for today’s matchup with the Patriots. To make matters worse, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich has claimed that all three players are candidates for injured reserve.
All three players were unable to participate in practice this week. The claim makes sense for Vera-Tucker and Fotu, who are dealing with ankle and knee injuries, respectively. The claim is a little more concerning for Davis, who has been on the injury report with a designated concussion. We’ve seen players come back from the NFL’s concussion protocol within a week, so the idea that Davis could miss four weeks because of a head injury could be alarming.
Here are a few other injury updates from around the NFL:
- It’s been a rough go lately for 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga. A year after earning first-team All-Pro honors, Hufanga suffered a season-ending ACL tear that cost him the final seven games of the year, not to mention San Francisco’s three playoff games en route to a close Super Bowl loss. He worked hard to be ready for the start of the 2024 season but was unable to make an appearance until Week 3. He was inactive in Week 4 before making his second start in Week 5 against the Cardinals, getting knocked out after only 11 defensive snaps with a wrist injury. According to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, head coach Kyle Shanahan reported that it’s not guaranteed that Hufanga returns this year. Shanahan was quoted saying “it’s something (they’re) hoping happens” and that they’re “kind of expecting it to” happen, but “it’s not a sure thing.”
- Buccaneers linebacker SirVocea Dennis has been on IR for the last three weeks with a shoulder injury, meaning that he’ll be eligible to return from IR after one more game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case for the second-year defender. According to Greg Auman of FOX Sports, Dennis is unlikely to return this season. Per head coach Todd Bowles, if Dennis were to appear on the field again in Tampa Bay’s 2024 campaign, it would require a deep playoff run.