Pat Shurmur Likely Won’t Be Fired In 2019; Latest On James Bettcher, Dave Gettleman
Although the Giants suffered an embarrassing loss to the Jets on Sunday, head coach Pat Shurmur will not be fired before the end of the 2019 season, as Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv writes. Furthermore, team ownership is not going to force Shurmur to make any changes to his staff, which means that DC James Bettcher is safe as well.
That does not mean, however, that both men will be with the Giants in 2020. New York is 2-9, and while the club’s roster has some major holes, Shurmur’s play-calling has come into question during his two-year tenure with Big Blue (though as Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk writes, Shurmur has no intention of giving up play-calling duties). Shurmur has also come under fire for his in-game decision-making.
Meanwhile, Bettcher is in charge of the league’s 26th-ranked defense, but he has very little talent at his disposal. As Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com observes, Bettcher is operating without a quality pass rusher, middle linebacker, or cornerback, which has greatly limited the aggressive approach that he is known for. Raanan, like Vacchiano, believes that Bettcher will at least survive through the remainder of 2019, though if he is to be evaluated solely on the performance of his unit over the final seven games, he may not get another shot in New York. But Vacchiano says team brass recognizes the difficult position that Bettcher has been put in, and if the club’s rookies and younger players show signs of life down the home stretch, he could be retained for next year.
Shurmur could also get a third season in New York thanks to his work with rookie QB Daniel Jones. Though Jones has struggled with turnovers, he otherwise looks the part of a franchise signal-caller, and the Giants certainly don’t want to do anything to hinder Jones’ development. If that means keeping Shurmur around for another season, then so be it.
Likewise, GM Dave Gettleman could be on the hot seat, but his selection of Jones — which was heavily criticized in the offseason — may be what saves him. But Raanan says that ownership will think long and hard about Gettleman’s future with the team this offseason, and as of right now, there are doubts as to whether he is the right man to restore the Giants to competitiveness.
James Conner Expected To Play Week 11
More good news for the surging Steelers. After winning four in a row, Pittsburgh is firmly in the AFC playoff picture, and as Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com writes, the club is expected to have starting running back James Conner back on the field for Thursday night’s matchup against the division-rival Browns.
Conner has missed the past two games with a shoulder injury, and the Steelers’ rushing attack has suffered as a result. The team averaged 1.6 yards per carry against the Rams on Sunday and just 3.6 yards per carry against the Colts the week before. While Pittsburgh won both contests — largely as a result of its play-making defense — it clearly needs a strong run game to support young QB Mason Rudolph.
Conner himself has struggled to get untracked this year, as he is averaging under four yards per tote, but he did post 23 carries for 145 yards and a score in the Steeler’s win over the Dolphins in Week 8 before suffering the shoulder injury. He is also a useful receiving weapon and represents a clear upgrade over the likes of Jaylen Samuels and Trey Edmunds.
As Pryor notes, Conner is not fully healed, but he expects that he will be able to manage his pain well enough to handle a full workload. “I’m making a lot of progress on it, and I think I’ll be good to go [on Thursday],” Conner said. “I can’t make no guarantees, but as of right now, I’m feeling very good and things are feeling very confident for me playing on Thursday.”
The team announced that it released RB Darrin Hall from its practice squad, which is another indication that Conner will play on Thursday. To replace Hall, the Steelers added LB Sutton Smith to the taxi squad.
Giants Sign TE Scott Simonson
The Giants have signed tight end Scott Simonson, as Matt Lombardo of NJ.com reports. New York will have its bye this week, but Simonson, 27, may have a chance to see plenty of action when Big Blue returns to the field against the Bears in Week 12.
Fellow tight end Rhett Ellison entered the concussion protocol on Monday, per Lombardo, and Evan Engram is dealing with a foot injury that sidelined him for Sunday’s game against the Jets. So while Simonson is lauded more for his run-blocking abilities than his receiving skills, he could be called on to do a little bit more in the short-term.
Simonson appeared in all 16 games for the Giants in 2018, catching nine passes for 86 yards and a touchdown. New York re-signed him in early 2019, but he suffered a high ankle sprain in this year’s preseason finale and was ultimately released with an injury settlement. This week was the earliest he was eligible to sign with any club, and the injury fortunes of New York’s other TEs worked to his advantage.
In addition to the Simonson signing, the Giants announced a series of practice squad moves. They signed WR Alex Bachman, TE Garrett Dickerson, and LS Colin Holba to the taxi squad and released WR Reggie White Jr. and DL Freedom Akinmoladun from the squad.
Bengals Cut LB Preston Brown
The Bengals have cut linebacker Preston Brown, as Tyler Dragon of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports (via Twitter). Brown signed a three-year pact with Cincinnati this offseason, but he will not even see the end of the first year of that deal.
Brown did start every game for his hometown Bengals this season before the team replaced him in the starting lineup with third-round rookie Germaine Pratt for Sunday’s loss to the Ravens. Brown ultimately played just 17 defensive snaps on Sunday, his lowest snap count of the season.
The Bills selected Brown in the third round of the 2014 draft, but even after a solid platform year with Buffalo in 2017, the Bills opted against re-signing him. Brown ultimately accepted a one-year, $4MM deal with the Bengals in 2018, and then he re-upped with Cincinnati in March 2019.
Brown succumbed to injury for the first time in his career in 2018, as he played in just seven games for the Bengals after appearing in all 64 possible games for the Bills over his first four years in the league. But while he has managed to stay healthy in 2019, he has not played particularly well, especially in coverage. The fact that the Bengals cut ties less than one year into his three-year contract is not a good look for Brown.
Still, he just turned 27 and is owed only $400K for the rest of the season. As such, a team in need of a veteran LB with plenty of starting experience could put in a waiver claim, especially since such a team could cut him again this offseason with fairly minimal dead money ramifications. And if he clears waivers, he may not last too long on the open market.
Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic expects the Bengals to clean out most of their LB room this offseason, and he suggests that only Pratt will be retained for 2020 (Twitter link).
Buccaneers Cut Vernon Hargreaves
The Buccaneers have cut cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Tampa Bay selected Hargreaves in the first round (No. 11 overall) of the 2016 draft and exercised the fifth-year option of his rookie deal back in May, which would have kept the Florida product under club control through 2020.
However, the fifth-year option would have come with a $9.9MM salary and was guaranteed for injury only, so Hargreaves will not have any impact on the Bucs’ cap in 2020. This move comes on the heels of Hargreaves being benched in the second half of Sunday’s victory over the Cardinals for not hustling, and may have been done to send a message to the rest of the locker room. As Jenna Laine of ESPN.com writes, Hargreaves planned to speak with head coach Bruce Arians to discuss the benching and expressed confidence that he and Arians could resolve any issues they might have, but the fact that his lack of hustle was not an isolated incident could have contributed to his ouster. Laine reminds us that Arians sat Hargreaves on the first day of OTAs because he was “not mentally ready to practice.”
The Bucs’ decision is particularly telling given that they have the worst pass defense in the NFL and now have just three healthy corners on the roster. As Greg Auman of The Athletic notes, Tampa will turn to rookies Jamel Dean and Sean Murphy-Bunting as its starters (Twitter link). Auman tweets that, given the youth and injuries along the CB depth chart, the club is likely to add a corner from outside the organization to replace Hargreaves.
Hargreaves rarely lived up to his first-round billing during his tenure with the Bucs, struggling both outside the numbers and in the slot. However, given his youth and upside, he will surely garner interest from other clubs in need of secondary help. Now that we are past the trade deadline, Hargreaves is subject to waivers, and while he is due just $980K for the remainder of the 2019 season, a team that claims Hargreaves off waivers would also be putting itself on the hook for the 2020 option year. As such, teams may wait for Hargreaves to clear waivers and then attempt to sign him as a free agent.
GM Jason Licht issued the following statement on the transaction (Twitter links to Auman):
“After thoughtful consideration over the past few weeks, Coach Arians and I came to the conclusion that we needed to make this change. Decisions such as this are always difficult, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to part ways with Vernon at this time and allow him to explore other opportunities. We are disappointed that it did not work out here for Vernon, and we wish him continued success moving forward.”
Hargreaves, a collegiate standout with the Gators, ends his Bucs tenure with two interceptions — including one pick-six — 19 passes defensed, and 164 total tackles in 35 games (33 starts). Injuries limited him to just 10 games between the 2017-18 seasons.
Colts To Work Out Kickers
After another difficult outing from future Hall-of-Famer Adam Vinatieri on Sunday, the Colts are working out free agent kickers today, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). Graziano says the team has not made any decision with respect to Vinatieri, but Indianapolis wants to see what’s available in case it elects to move on from the 46-year-old.
It sounds as if the Colts will consider cutting Vinatieri if they are sufficiently impressed by one of the kickers they’re bringing in for a tryout. If that happens, it would be an unceremonious end to a brilliant career, but Indianapolis cannot afford to keep Vinatieri around because of what he’s accomplished in the past. In 2019, the four-time Super Bowl champ has directly contributed to several of the Colts’ four losses — including Sunday’s home loss to the previously 1-7 Dolphins — and he has missed a whopping six extra points and five field goals.
After the second game of the 2019 season, a game in which he missed two PATS in a narrow win over the Titans, Vinatieri sounded like a man contemplating retirement. He ultimately elected to continue playing, and the Colts have stood by him, but after the defeat to Miami, it was easy to see that head coach Frank Reich‘s patience was wearing thin. Now, it’s unclear whether Vinatieri has already attempted the last kick of his 24-year NFL tenure.
We will pass along the names of the kickers the Colts are trying out when they become available.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/10/19
Dan Quinn Being Evaluated On Week-To-Week Basis
Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is probably on the hottest seat of any HC at the moment, and Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network says Quinn is being evaluated on a week-to-week basis (video link). That means that, if things go “horribly wrong” for Atlanta on Sunday, Quinn may be relieved of his duties shortly thereafter.
And, given that the 1-7 Falcons are 13-point underdogs to the 7-1 Saints this afternoon — and given that the game is in New Orleans — it’s not difficult to envision things going horribly wrong. Rapoport says Falcons owner Arthur Blank will use the Saints game to help him make a decision with respect to Quinn, so it sounds as if Quinn could hang onto his job for another week if his team puts up a good fight against New Orleans. But, if the Falcons lay another egg, Quinn could get the axe.
Atlanta’s defense, which is supposedly Quinn’s specialty, has been non-existent, and it’s currently ranked near the bottom of the league in just about every defensive category, allowing almost 400 yards of total offense per game. The Falcons had their bye last week but lost their sixth straight game the week before.
Quinn is currently in his fifth season and led Atlanta to the Super Bowl after the 2016 regular season, though an epic collapse during the Super Bowl denied the franchise of its first Lomabrdi Trophy. The Falcons posted a 10-6 record the following year, but it has been a downhill slide ever since. Even if Quinn makes it through the rest of 2019, he is widely expected to be fired in the offseason.
AFC North Notes: Tomlin, Green, Browns
There may be plenty of Steelers fans unhappy with head coach Mike Tomlin, but he has navigated his team through some turbulent waters over the last couple of seasons, and after starting the 2019 campaign 0-3 and losing Ben Roethlisberger to injury, Pittsburgh is now 4-4 and is back in the AFC playoff picture. As Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com writes, Steelers players believe Tomlin is in the midst of one of his finest coaching performances, and that should go a long way towards quieting outside criticism. Thanks to an (admittedly unusual) one-year extension that he signed in July, Tomlin is under contract through 2021, and his standing within the organization seems strong.
Now for more from the AFC North:
- Bengals WR A.J. Green will miss Sunday’s game against the Ravens after it was initially reported that he would be making his 2019 debut against Baltimore, and Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic believes the sudden turn of events could suggest that Green is preparing to sit out for the remainder of the season (which may be what he wanted all along). However, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network observed that Green was working out on the field Sunday morning and says his ankle will be reassessed this week (Twitter link). As of right now, the team is not planning on shutting Green down for the year.
- In addition to Green, the Bengals have been without LT Cordy Glenn all year. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, Glenn is still taking scout-team reps in practice, and it’s unclear whether he will be activated at all in 2019. Of course, Glenn and the Bengals are at odds over the team’s handling of his concussion, so it’s possible Glenn has already played his last snap for Cincinnati.
- Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports says the Browns‘ analytics department believed Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski, not Freddie Kitchens, was the right man for Cleveland’s head coaching job. Of course, the Browns went against that recommendation, but given the club’s disappointing 2019 season, the team could be back in the market for an HC in 2020, and if that happens, Stefanski — who was reportedly the runner-up to Kitchens — should be on the short list of potential replacements.
- Browns RB Kareem Hunt will make his Cleveland debut against the Bills on Sunday after serving an eight-game suspension, and La Canfora says Hunt is expected to be a major part of the team’s offense right away. Even more importantly, Hunt has not only fulfilled all of the league’s requirements for reinstatement, but he has taken on a number of non-mandatory responsibilities. Per La Canfora, Hunt meets with women’s groups, participates in community service, and continues to speak to a counselor regularly.
Antonio Brown Not Expected To Play In 2019
Given where we are in the season and in the league’s investigation of Antonio Brown, this will hardly come as a surprise, but sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com that Brown is not expected to play again this season.
We heard several days ago that Brown would finally meet with the NFL this Thursday as part of the league’s investigation into the sexual assault/rape allegations that two women have made against him. For some time, it was believed that the interview with Brown would be the last step in the investigation, but Schefter says that Brown has yet to turn over some of the evidence that the NFL is seeking.
Schefter says that three teams have been in contact with Brown — one of which may be the Seahawks — but otherwise, his report largely reiterates what we already know. For instance, if a team were to sign Brown, the league would be prepared to place him on the commissioner’s exempt list until the investigation is over, meaning that the acquiring team would be paying him to sit on the sidelines.
Plus, at least some teams believe that Brown will be hit with a suspension once the investigation has concluded, so even if the league was prepared to make a finding and impose discipline as soon as the interview with Brown is over — which is clearly not the case — Brown may not be eligible to play in 2019 anyway. Indeed, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the league’s meeting with Brown will take place in South Florida and not NFL headquarters in New York, which suggests that the league is still in fact-finding mode.
Brown says he is determined to return to the NFL, but it seems as though that will happen at some point in 2020, not 2019. In the meantime, AB will have plenty of things to worry about, including the lawsuit filed by one of his accusers, Britney Taylor. Per Schefter, Brown has now been served with the suit.
For what it’s worth, Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, continues to insist that Brown will suit up for an NFL team this year. Rosenhaus said, “I’m confident Antonio will play again this season. I believe the NFL should clear him after they interview him this week and I expect he will be signed shortly after that” (via Schefter on Twitter).