D.J. Swearinger Claimed By The Cardinals
It didn’t take long for former Redskins safety D.J. Swearinger to find a new suitor. Less than a day after being released by Washington, the veteran defender announced he was joining the Cardinals in a post on Instagram. 
The Cardinals had priority for waiver claims and didn’t want to take the chance on the South Carolina product being tabbed by another team.
In the post, Swearinger addressed his release from the Redskins after he criticized defensive coordinator Greg Manusky’s playcalling in a loss at Tennessee.
“I Gave That Organization My Heart And Soul And They Spit In My Face For Giving My Opinion Only To Better The Team!! Right Wrong Or Indifferent I’ve Found My Peace And Learned From It And I Am So Excited To Go Back To The Sunny Desert Arizona Like I Never Left!”
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden addressed Swearinger’s release by saying:
“We made it pretty clear that we try to keep our business within these walls,” Gruden said, “and we’ve had many a talk before about that and unfortunately he chose to go to the media again and talk about his displeasure with some of the calls. I know Coach Manusky works extremely hard, as does the rest of the staff, to put together a game plan, and unfortunately we didn’t get it done.”
By joining the Cardinals, Swearinger returns to Arizona where he spent parts of two seasons before joining Washington. In 2016, the defender impressed with 64 tackles, three interceptions and two sacks, earning him a three-year, $13.5MM deal with the Redskins. The Redskins will save $4.5MM off their 2019 salary cap with the move, and the Cardinals will be responsible for paying his $176K paycheck for Week 17.
London A 2019 Option For The Raiders?
With the Raiders’ relationship with Oakland dissolved and a year left before they can complete their move to Las Vegas, the team is broaching out-of-the-box options for home games in 2019. One of those options could include playing in London, according to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer (Twitter link). 
Glazer called the potential move “out of left field,” but mentioned that other owners have discussed the possibility with the team. The NFL has long toyed with the possibility of a franchise calling London home, and this would be the greatest test run the league could hope for.
What the move would look like for scheduling purposes is yet to be determined, but it is sure to be a hectic travel situation with the team playing its games in the AFC West. One possibility that Glazer mentioned would have the Raiders playing four consecutive home games, followed by four straight road contests.
One person who would not be happy with playing the games in London would be Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, according to Des Bieler of The Washington Post. When the team played the Seahawks in London this year, the coach said:
“I get claustrophobic. My son was a weightlifter, and he won a powerlifting competition in Belarus. I had to fly 14 hours. I had to fly home 14 hours. I had vertigo for a month. I couldn’t even lay down, the house was spinning. I am hoping I don’t get vertigo. I’m not a great traveler. I’ll be honest with you. I hate it. I’m not good. I’m concerned. I’m more worried about that than our goal-line offense right now.”
Though it may seem like an outside shot, the fact the Raiders have discussed the move with other owners suggest the team is seriously considering the move and would have approval from at least some of the 31 owners needed to make the move. The team has also been linked with a host of other locations, including Levi’s Stadium and AT&T Park.
Frank Gore To Undergo MRI On Monday
Dolphins running back Frank Gore left Sunday’s 41-17 loss to the Vikings early with a left ankle injury. The veteran back sprained his foot on the play but avoided a fracture, and is scheduled to undergo an MRI to see if any ligaments were damaged, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. 
This means his 122-game starting streak, the longest in the league among running backs, is more than likely to end next week. According to Cameron Wolfe of ESPN, the next-longest starting streak by a running back is just 17, held by Christian McCaffrey and Peyton Barber.
Gore, 35, finished the day with 14 yards on five carries, and was replaced by rookie Kalen Ballage, who exploded for 123 yards on 12 carries and scored on a 75-yard run. The Dolphins will likely return to the Arizona State product and Kenyan Drake to close the season, assuming Gore is to miss time.
It’s been another steady year for the veteran back, who moved into fourth place on the NFL’s all-time rushing yards list, passing Curtis Martin. Set to be a free agent at the end of the season, Gore could seriously contemplate retirement or hope to land with another team to make a run at Barry Sanders — Just 521 yards away — for the No. 3 spot.
Knee Injury Could End Aaron Jones’ Season
Packers running back Aaron Jones left Sunday’s game against the Bears on his fourth carry of the afternoon with a knee injury. It appears that tote could be his last of the season, as the running back expects to be sidelined a while, PackersNews.com writes. 
Though an official word has not been released, the running back said it was “similar” to the torn MCL he suffered last season, which cost him two games. With just two games remaining in the season and the Packers eliminated from playoff contention, it would make sense that the emerging back is done for the season. He would not rule out his return, however.
“I’m hoping that I will be able to play next week,” Jones said. “I’m a competitor and I want to play, and it killed me not to be able to play.”
In a backfield committee, Jones has shined in his second season. Through Week 14, the Packers back led the NFL in yards-per-carry (5.6) and had already posted career highs in rushing yards (720), rushing touchdowns (eight) and receptions (26).
His short time in the NFL has been marred by injuries, however. As a rookie, he suffered a pair of knee injuries — one to each knee — and was limited to just 81 carries in 12 games. The fifth-round selection has shown plenty of promise, though, and figures to feature heavily in the Packers’ plans in 2019. He is signed through the 2020 season.
Zygi Wilf Says Mike Zimmer’s Job Is Safe
Despite taking fire recently from fans and the media, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer‘s job is not in jeopardy according to team owner Zygi Wilf, Bob Sansevere of the Pioneer Press writes. 
“We’re very happy with the coach and the entire coaching staff,” Wilf said. “It’s great to be in this position in December, that’s for sure. I’m very proud we stepped up and answered any questions about who we were as a team. I think we showed we were one of the best and can beat anyone on any given day.”
Chad Kelly Due In Court On Monday
Former Broncos quarterback Chad Kelly is due in court on Monday to be arraigned on a felony charge of first-degree trespassing, the Denver Post’s Sam Tabachnik writes. 
The charge stems from an Oct. 23 incident when the backup signal-caller allegedly walked into a family’s house after departing Von Miller‘s Halloween party. According to the arrest affidavit, Kelly sat down next to a woman on her couch and mumbled incoherently. He was then attacked by the man who lived there with an aluminum tube from a vacuum cleaner, forcing the quarterback out of the house. He was later arrested outside the Gothic Theatre, the site of the party. The Broncos later released him.
A highly touted quarterback in college, Kelly saw his draft stock slip for maturity concerns. Obviously, the aforementioned incident hasn’t done much to remove those concerns. Before the incident, however, Kelly was impressing Broncos brass with his play in the preseason, completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 466 yards and three touchdowns in four games, including one start.
He recently announced his attempt at a comeback, tweeting a clip of him throwing to a receiver.
Melvin Gordon Expected Back Week 16
Sidelined for the last three games, Chargers running back Melvin Gordon is expected to make a return to the field when Los Angeles takes on Baltimore in Week 16, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweets. 
The Pro Bowl running back has been sidelined since sustaining a grade 2 MCL sprain in Los Angeles’ Week 12 matchup with Arizona. The Chargers back was operating as one of the league’s best backs before the injury. Through ten games, Gordon had nine rushing touchdowns and has averaged 5.2 yards per carry. He also had 44 catches for 453 yards and four scores.
His absence hasn’t exactly slowed down the Chargers, who have rattled off three consecutive wins without their star running back to move into a tie for first place in the AFC West. Though the team is rolling, the ground game has taken a back seat, producing two of the team’s four worst rushing performances on the year.
The Chargers currently hold the tiebreaker over the Chiefs for the top spot in the West, but have a tough challenge against a Ravens squad also battling for playoff positioning.
Extra Points: Sherman, Bortles, Lincoln Riley, Ravens
It won’t be this year or the next, but at some point before he calls it quits on a likely Hall of Fame career, cornerback Richard Sherman is likely to make the move to safety, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch writes.
The four-time First Team All-Pro selection is open to it at least, saying:
“It’s definitely something that I’ve looked at,” Sherman said. “And something that I’ve talked with (Charles Woodson) about.”
In the first of a three-year deal with the 49ers, Sherman still rates as an above average cornerback according to Pro Football Focus. Now in his 30s, however, the star defender is already looking to make a similar move that prolonged the careers of Charles Woodson, Rod Woodson and Aeneas Williams. Despite the move, don’t expect him to play into his late 30s.
“I think 35 is probably my cutoff,” Sherman said. “I don’t think I want to play … they’d have a hard time getting me out of bed at 35 to go play. I think I’ve got four or five more (years) in me.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- After his benching, Blake Bortles is unlikely to be back with the Jaguars next season, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio writes. With $6.5MM of Bortles’ $16.5MM contract next season guaranteed, the Jaguars can hope that some team signs him for $6.5MM — unlikely — or package him in a trade with a team that would be considering signing him, a la Brock Osweiler. The Jaguars will still have a cap charge of $10MM, but the team can push $5MM of that into 2020.
- The Ravens did not activate cornerback Jaylen Hill from the PUP list, officially ending his season. Recovering from a torn ACL and MCL, Hill was unlikely to take the field after recently suffering a setback.
- With the college game becoming more intertwined with the professional ranks, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports listed 10 college coaches who could make the jump to the NFL. To no one’s surprise, Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley was at the top of the heap thanks to his high-powered offense that produced a Heisman Trophy winner in Baker Mayfield, and potentially another in Kyler Murray. Other notable names on the list include Stanford’s David Shaw, former 49ers coach and current Michigan man Jim Harbaugh and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald.
Owners To Revisit How NFL Conducts Investigations?
In the wake of the Kareem Hunt incident, some NFL owners want to reconsider how the league handles its investigations into criminal allegations made against players, The Washington Post’s Mark Maske writes. 
Sources tell Maske those owners would like to revise the league’s investigative methods with the possibility of considering if it should be conducting those investigations in the first place. Though some are interested in rehashing the process, it is not expected to be a large contingent and there is not believed to be a specific agenda item on the issue at the upcoming owners’ meeting in Dallas on Wednesday.
“It’s certainly an issue that needs discussion,” said one of those people with knowledge of those owners’ views, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “Is there a way to do this better? If not, should the NFL even be in the investigative business?”
The NFL faced heavy scrutiny after security footage from a February 2018 incident at a Cleveland hotel surfaced last week of Hunt shoving a woman to the ground and kicking her. In its original investigation, the league was unable to obtain the footage to review and did not question the running back about the incident. Hunt was not punished when the incident first came to light, but after the release of the video he was placed on the Commissioners’ Exempt List and was released immediately by the Chiefs.
Maske notes the hurdles the NFL faces in conducting these independent investigations since it does not have subpoena power.
Among the leaders of the charge by the owners could be Jerry Jones, who was openly dissatisfied with the way the league handled investigation into star Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott in 2017 that resulted in a six-game suspension and a drawn-out appeals process.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/8/18
Here are today’s practice squad moves:
Indianapolis Colts:
- Signed: QB Phillip Walker