Titans Sign James Anderson; Brown To IR
The Titans have agreed to terms with free agent linebacker James Anderson, the team announced today (via Twitter). Anderson takes the 53-man roster spot vacated by fellow linebacker Zach Brown, who has been placed on injured reserve, ending his season.
Anderson, 30, was one of the more notable veteran linebackers on the market, having started all 16 games last season for the Bears. While Pro Football Focus’ metrics (subscription required) ranked Anderson 33rd out of 35 qualified 4-3 outside linebackers in 2013, his poor grade was due in large part to subpar performance against the run — he was one of the league’s more effective linebackers in pass coverage.
Anderson, a former third-round pick who also accumulated 102 tackles and four quarterback sacks, signed with the Pats in the offseason, but was cut during the preseason, and was one of several linebackers who worked out last week for the Titans. As for Brown, he suffered a torn pectoral muscle during Tennessee’s Week 1 game against the Chiefs.
Besides swapping in one linebacker for another on the 53-man roster, the Titans did the same on their practice squad. According to the club (via Twitter), Justin Staples has been added to the taxi squad, replacing Brandon Copeland.
Lions Worked Out Kickers, Beauharnais
The Lions conducted workouts with several veteran players today, including a handful of kickers, according to various reports. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that Rob Bironas, Alex Henery, and Garrett Hartley all auditioned for the club, while Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun tweets that former Patriots linebacker Steve Beauharnais was also in Detroit for a tryout.
While Beauharnais’ workout looks fairly standard, the fact that Detroit brought in multiple veteran kickers is notable. Rookie Nate Freese won the job in the preseason, but he has struggled out of the gate for the Lions — he has made just two of five field goal attempts so far, with both converted tries coming from inside 30 yards.
Birons, Henery, and Hartley were the starting kickers for the Titans, Eagles, and Saints respectively for most or all of last season, and could prove to be more reliable than Freese. I’d expect the Lions to give their seventh-round pick at least one more chance to straighten things out, but his leash may not be much longer than that.
Jags Cut Cameron Bradfield; Lewis To IR-DTR
1:29pm: In addition to waiving Bradfield, the Jaguars have also placed tight end Marcedes Lewis on injured reserve with the designation to return, tweets John Oehser of Jaguars.com. The moves opened up two spots on the club’s 53-man roster, which Jacksonville filled by signing wideout Tavarres King from the Panthers’ practice squad and promoting tight end Marcel Jensen from the Jags’ own practice squad (Twitter link).
12:48pm: A week after their offensive line allowed Chad Henne to be sacked 10 times by the Redskins, the Jaguars are making some changes. According to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union (via Twitter), the team has cut starting right tackle Cameron Bradfield.
Bradfield, who turned 27 on Sunday, didn’t have a great birthday — according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he was responsible for two of the 10 sacks on Henne, and also allowed three additional quarterback pressures. The -5.1 grade for the game, on top of Week 1’s -2.5 mark, made him one of the league’s worst tackles through two weeks, per PFF. Unfortunately, that’s nothing new for the Grand Valley State product. His -29.1 mark in 2013 made him a bottom-five tackle in the NFL, out of 76 qualified players at the position.
The Jaguars inked Bradfield to a two-year contract extension in March, so they’ll be on the hook for a little dead money as a result of the move. However, that contract didn’t include a signing bonus, so the effect on the club’s 2015 cap will be limited. Sam Young and Austin Pasztor are among the in-house candidates to replace Bradfield at right tackle, and the team will also have an open roster spot to add another player, though it remains to be seen if that will be another lineman.
Latest On Josh Gordon
Browns wideout Josh Gordon pleaded guilty to a charge of DUI in Raleigh today, the Wake County Clerk of Court confirmed to Will Brinson of CBSSports.com. As a result of the guilty plea, Gordon received 12 months unsupervised probation and will have to pay a total of $390 in court costs and fines.
As for how the DUI will affect Gordon’s NFL status, that remains somewhat unclear. The league’s new drug policy states that the penalty for a first-time DUI will be a two-game suspension, but because the incident occurred and the legal process concluded while the old policy is still technically in place, Gordon won’t be subject to that automatic two-game suspension, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Under the old drug policy, a first-time DUI offense results in no suspension and a maximum fine of $50K from the NFL. As Florio points out in a tweet, Gordon still may face a suspension under that old policy due to his history of substance-abuse issues, but it won’t be an automatic two-gamer, as it would be under the new rules.
Of course, once the new drug policy is instituted, which is expected to happen any day now, Gordon will still have to serve the rest of a 10-game ban for violations of the league’s substance abuse guidelines. But if he can avoid further punishment, it could make a big difference for his NFL future. Playing in the Browns’ final six games this season would allow Gordon to earn an accrued season, meaning he’d remain on track to be eligible for free agency after the 2015 season. If he were to be suspended for an additional two games, playing in only four this season, he wouldn’t earn that accrued season, meaning the Browns would get an extra year of team control on the young wideout.
Poll: Should Peterson, Hardy Play Week 3?
After last week’s Ray Rice drama led to the Ravens cutting their running back and the league suspending him indefinitely, attention has shifted this week to a pair of other cases of off-field violence involving NFL players. Adrian Peterson, who was indicted and charged with injuring a child, and Greg Hardy, who was recently found guilty by a judge of assaulting and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, were both inactive in Week 2.
However, Peterson has since been reinstated by the Vikings, and it sounds like the Panthers are at least considering doing the same for Hardy. The NFL typically allows for due process, waiting until cases have fully played out before announcing disciplinary measures for players. In these cases, however, while the legal process hasn’t been completed, Peterson has admitted to causing injury to his son, while Hardy has been found guilty by a judge, if not yet a jury.
Given the increased pressure on the NFL to come down hard on off-field instances of domestic violence and abuse in the wake of the Rice incident, the league appears to be mulling intervening in the cases of both Peterson and Hardy. We heard as much regarding Hardy’s case earlier this morning, and Jason Cole of Bleacher Report says the league is taking a long look at Peterson’s case as well.
The Peterson incident, which was publicly reported more recently than Hardy’s altercation, seems to be drawing more attention around the NFL and beyond, with Minnesota governor Mark Dayton suggesting today that the Vikings should have kept the running back suspended until the accusation of abuse is resolved in the legal system. Robert Klemko of TheMMQB.com and others have also pointed out that the Vikings’ call for “due process” didn’t seem to apply to less talented players previously on the roster who ran into legal troubles of their own.
What do you think? Are you fine with seeing Peterson and Hardy on the field until their cases have been closed? Or do we already know enough in both instances that their teams – or the league – would be justified in keeping them out of action for Week 3 and beyond?
NFL Could Intervene In Greg Hardy Case
“Due process” has been a popular phrase around the NFL lately, as teams and the league opt to wait for players’ legal cases to fully play out before deciding on the appropriate penalties. That’s why the Panthers elected to let Greg Hardy play in their Week 1 game against the Buccaneers, but after deactivating the defensive end in Week 2, Carolina has yet to make a final decision on how to proceed with Hardy, who was found guilty by a North Carolina judge of assaulting and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend.
“We’re going to have to look at things and look at what’s going on,” said head coach Ron Rivera, according to Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. “We’re going to have to get a feel for some things, and, as I said, [GM] Dave [Gettleman] and the guys upstairs are going to do their due diligence in terms of looking at what our options are.”
As the Panthers consider their options, the decision may ultimately be taken out of their hands. A league source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the NFL may soon intervene in the Hardy case, electing to suspend him without pay for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
While Hardy was found guilty by a judge, the North Carolina criminal procedure allowed him to appeal that decision and receive a trial by jury, which is currently scheduled for November 17. Typically, the league and the team would wait until after that date to hand down an appropriate punishment for Hardy, but given the current climate following incidents involving Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson, the NFL and the Panthers are under increased scrutiny — seeing Hardy active in this week’s prime time Sunday Night Football game may not sit well with many fans and viewers.
A Panthers source directly involved in the Hardy situation tells Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that the club doesn’t know anything at this point about a potential suspension coming from the NFL.
Redskins Waive Bacarri Rambo
The Redskins have waived safety Bacarri Rambo, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (via Twitter). A roster move along those lines had been expected, since veteran safety Brandon Meriweather can return from his two-game suspension this week, and the team needed to make room for him on its 53-man roster.
Rambo, a sixth-round pick in the 2013 draft, made three starts for Washington last year, and saw significant action in Week 1 of this season in Meriweather’s absence. However, over the course of the 72 defensive snaps this season, he recorded a -2.7 grade, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required), in large part due to his involvement on two plays — DeAndre Hopkins‘ 76-yard touchdown for the Texans in Week 1 and Marcedes Lewis‘ 63-yard score for the Jags this past Sunday.
Despite Rambo’s early-season struggles, the team has invested enough time in him over the last two seasons that I’d be surprised if he departs Washington entirely. The second-year safety still has practice-squad eligibility, so it’s possible we’ll see him land on Washington’s taxi squad, assuming he clears waivers.
Minor Moves: Monday
We’ll round up Monday’s minor transactions right here, with the latest moves added to the top of the page throughout the day:
- Two days after promoting him to their 53-man roster, the Lions have waived safety Nate Ness, says Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Ness was placed back on the practice squad this evening, according to Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com (on Twitter).
- The Bears announced that they have signed sixth-round rookie quarterback David Fales to their practice squad and re-signed fullback Tony Fiammetta to the active roster, according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune (on Twitter).
- The 49ers are set to sign Xavier Grimble to their practice squad, a source tells Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (on Twitter).
- The Buccaneers have finalized a little roster shuffling, promoting linebacker Brandon Magee to their 53-man roster and signing linebacker Ka’Lial Glaud to take his place on the practice squad. To create an opening for Magee, the club has waived-injured cornerback Rashaan Melvin (Twitter link via Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com).
- Defensive tackle Matt Conrath has been cut by the Rams, per Field Yates of ESPN.com (via Twitter). No corresponding move has been reported yet, but the team could be opening up a roster spot for wideout Stedman Bailey, who appears poised to be reinstated.
- Bengals cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris, who is returning from a suspension this week, has joined the team’s roster, tweets Coley Harvey of ESPN.com. Cincinnati gets a two-day exemption for Lewis-Harris, though by our count the club had an opening on its 53-man roster anyway.
- Linebacker Darius Fleming (Patriots) and defensive end Chris Smith (Jaguars) have passed through waivers and re-signed with their respective clubs’ practice squads, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald and Caplan, respectively (Twitter links).
- The Giants have removed defensive end Jordan Stanton from their practice squad, per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter).
- The Ravens have signed cornerback Lou Young to fill the 10th and final spot on their practice squad, according to a team release.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Welker, Scandrick, Others To Be Reinstated
Broncos wideout Wes Welker and Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick are among the players who will be reinstated when the term sheet for the league’s new drug policy is agreed upon, according to Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (Facebook link). Welker and Scandrick are two of the estimated 20 players whose suspensions will be affected by the new policy once it’s approved by the NFL, which is expected to happen within the next 24 hours.
Besides Welker and Scandrick, Rams receiver Stedman Bailey, Giants offensive lineman Eric Herman, and former Vikings defensive end Spencer Nealy will also have the remaining games on their suspensions wiped out and will be reinstated immediately, according to the ESPN duo. Additionally, Browns wideout Josh Gordon and ex-Colts receiver LaVon Brazill will have their year-long bans reduced to 10 games.
That handful of players named by Schefter and Mortensen is far from the complete list of players who will be affected by the NFL’s new drug policy, but we may not get that full list of names until the agreement becomes official. In any case, it seems plenty of players who had originally been suspended through Week 3 will get the opportunity to return to their teams’ respective practices this week, and many of them could be active this coming Sunday.
More Injury Updates: Monday
We passed along one round of Monday injury updates earlier today, and since then we’ve learned that the Bears will be placing Charles Tillman on their injured reserve list with a season-ending triceps injury. There are still plenty of items to round up this afternoon though, so let’s dive right in….
- Jaguars tight end Marcedes Lewis sustained a high ankle sprain yesterday and is expected to miss six to eight weeks of action, the team announced today (Twitter link). That recovery timeline could make Lewis a candidate for the injured reserve list with the designation to return.
- Jamaal Charles also appears to have suffered a high ankle sprain, though Chiefs head coach Andy Reid indicated today that it “doesn’t look to be a real severe one,” according to B.J. Kissel of KCChiefs.com (via Twitter). The timetable for Charles’ return isn’t yet clear, but it looks like Knile Davis will probably get the nod for Kansas City in Week 3.
- Per Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network (Twitter link), Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said today that it’s too early to predict a return date for Robert Griffin III, but Gruden expects the signal-caller to return this season and says he isn’t an IR candidate.
- Rams wideout Tavon Austin has been diagnosed with a sprained MCL and is expected to miss a couple weeks, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
- Dolphins guard Shelley Smith will also be sidelined for two to four weeks due to a grade two knee sprain, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter).