Titans Promote Curtis Riley To Active Roster
The Titans announced that they have promoted cornerback Curtis Riley to the active roster. Riley takes the place of guard Chance Warmack, who was placed on injured reserve yesterday. 
Riley first joined the Titans as an undrafted free agent after the 2015 NFL Draft. Since then, he has practiced as both a cornerback and a safety. Now on the 53-man roster, he’ll be expected to provide the Titans with depth in the secondary along with help on special teams. After spending his entire rookie season on IR, he’s hoping to get his first taste of NFL action this fall.
In a related move, guard Karim Barton has been added to the practice squad. Barton, a Morgan State product, previously spent time with Houston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland.
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Bears Promote Matt Barkley To Active Roster
The Bears announced that they have elevated quarterback Matt Barkley from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. Barkley will give the team additional depth while Jay Cutler is sidelined with a sprained thumb. Brian Hoyer is expected to start in the interim. 
[RELATED: Bears’ Jay Cutler To Miss 2 Or 3 Weeks]
Barkley was with the Cardinals this offseason but missed the 53-man cut. Soon after, he signed on with Chicago’s taxi squad. Barkley, 26, was a fourth-round pick of Chip Kelly’s Eagles in 2013. In two seasons with Philly, Barkley attempted 50 passes with four interceptions and zero touchdowns.
In related moves, fullback Paul Lasike was re-signed to the practice squad and outside linebacker Lamarr Houston was officially placed on IR. We learned earlier this week that Houston is done for the season after suffering a torn ACL.
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Falcons To Re-Sign O’Brien Schofield
For months, O’Brien Schofield has been lobbying for a return to the Falcons. It took a while, but the veteran linebacker is on his way back to Atlanta, as Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a one-year deal for the Falcons and Schofield, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. The Falcons have confirmed the deal via press release. To make room, the team has waived running back Terron Ward.
Schofield will likely play SAM linebacker for the Falcons and help with the pass rush on occasion, McClure writes. The 29-year-old signed a one-year, $1.7MM deal with Atlanta last year and finished out the year with 28 tackles, four tackles for losses, two sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and one forced fumble.
The Falcons made Schofield an offer early on in the offseason, but he held out for more money. Schofield appears to have misjudged the market as the Falcons did not improve their offer and interest from other teams was mild to say the least. The Patriots met with Schofield in August and the Jets hosted him on a visit in September, but neither meeting led to a deal.
Schofield followed Dan Quinn to Atlanta last offseason when he signed a one-year, $1.7MM contract. He finished out the year with 28 tackles, four tackles for losses, two sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and one forced fumble.
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Browns WR Corey Coleman Avoids Surgery
Browns wide receiver Corey Coleman saw a specialist today and received some good news. The rookie won’t need surgery on his broken hand and is expected to return in 4-6 weeks, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. If Coleman went under the knife, he would have been out for a lot longer – perhaps for the entire season. 
The Browns’ offense has been battered by injuries in the first two weeks of the season. Already, Cleveland has lost both its starting quarterback (RG3) and its primary backup (Josh McCown), leaving rookie Cody Kessler as the starter on Sunday.
Coleman, the No. 15 overall pick in this year’s draft, was the first wide receiver to come off the board this year. The Baylor product didn’t have the best quarterbacking in his final year on campus, but he still managed to rack up 1,363 receiving yards and he led the nation with 20 touchdown catches. Known for his speed, the Browns were hoping to see Coleman make his presence felt right out of the gate. The rookie did manage seven grabs for 173 yards and two touchdowns to start the season, but they’ll have to wait at least a month before he adds to those totals.
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Practice Squad Updates: 9/21/16
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: OT Carter Bykowski, LB Davis Tull
- Cut: DE Nordly Capi, CB Devonte Johnson
Chicago Bears
- Signed: LB Ronald Powell (Twitter link via Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com)
New York Giants
- Signed: OT Michael Ola (Twitter link via James Kratch of NJ Advance Media)
- Cut: OL Shane McDermott
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: CB JaCorey Shepherd (Twitter link via Adam Caplan of ESPN)
- Cut: G Darrell Greene
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: LB Curtis Grant (Twitter link via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle)
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: RB Terrence Magee (via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DE Ryan Russell (Twitter link via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times)
Washington Redskins
- Signed: OL Ronald Patrick (Twitter link via Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post)
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/21/16
Wednesday’s minor moves from around the NFL:
- The Seahawks have released fullback Will Tukuafu, according to Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter link). The 32-year-old has bounced in and out of the Seattle organization since signing there as an undrafted free agent from Oregon in 2010. He played the 2011-13 seasons with San Francisco.
- The 49ers have promoted linebacker Shayne Skov to the active roster from their practice squad, tweets Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. Skov suited up for 15 of the 49ers’ 16 regular-season games last year.
- The Buccaneers have promoted wide receiver Freddie Martino from the practice squad and waived linebacker Josh Keyes, per Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Martino has only appeared in one NFL game, which came as a member of the Falcons in 2014. Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter was Atlanta’s offensive coordinator then.
Josh Gordon Slapped With Arrest Warrant
4:26pm: Gordon’s attorneys have issued an update on their client (Twitter link via Nate Ulrich of Ohio.com): “Josh Gordon was made aware that he was previously requested to be present in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. He was unaware of this face until 12 p.m. today. Mr. Gordon immediately made himself available to the Court when he was informed that his presence had been previously required. He attended court today and a hearing was held. The matter was continued until November should a further hearing be needed.”
11:55am: Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon could have yet another off-the-field problem. A warrant has been issued for his arrest after he failed to respond to several months worth of subpoenas in a paternity case, as Adam Ferrise of Cleveland.com writes. 
An Ohio woman claims that Gordon is the father of her one-year-old daughter. The woman is seeking child support and Gordon has not complied with requests to supply the court with a DNA sample.
Gordon, of course, could potentially return to the Browns after sitting out for the first four games of the season. However, his reinstatement is predicated on his behavior and this latest issue could theoretically delay his return.
In 2013, despite missing the first two games of the season due to a suspension, Gordon led the NFL in receiving yards, finishing with 87 receptions for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns. Thanks to his off-the-field indiscretions, the 25-year-old played in five games in 2014 and missed the entire 2015 season.
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Browns Sign Scooby Wright To Practice Squad
One day after being waived, Scooby Wright is back with the Browns. This time, Wright is signed to the practice squad, though Cleveland has agreed to give Wright the same salary he was making on the active roster, Mike Florio of PFT tweets. 
Wright, a seventh-round pick, generated an unusual amount of excitement amongst Browns fans this offseason. The Arizona linebacker played out of his mind in 2014, racking up 164 total tackles, 15 sacks, and 31 tackles for a loss. Last year, Wright’s season ended after just three games due to injury. The Browns believe that he has big upside, but a numbers crunch meant that they had to expose him to waivers this week.
Per the terms of his agreement with the Browns, Wright will earn a weekly salary of $26K. That’s likely the highest practice squad salary in the NFL.
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Titans Place G Chance Warmack On IR
The Titans announced that guard Chance Warmack is going on IR. Warmack will have surgery to repair his injured hand, though the team says that he could have played through the injury if he wanted to. 
Warmack could theoretically return in eight weeks, but coach Mike Mularkey indicated that this will be a season-ending procedure. Warmack is in a contract year and appears to be protecting his long-term value by having the surgery done now.
In May, the Titans declined to exercise Warmack’s 2017 option. Warmack, 25, has been the Titans’ full-time right guard since being selected 10th overall in the 2013 draft, starting 46 of a possible 48 games from 2013 through 2015. The Alabama alum was solid but not spectacular in that role, ranking 40th out of 81 qualified guards in 2015, according to Pro Football Focus’ grades.
Without Warmack, the Titans will turn to Josh Kline and Brian Schwenke at the right guard position.
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Saints Place CB P.J. Williams On IR
The Saints are placing cornerback P.J. Williams on IR, as Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets. To fill his roster spot, the Saints are signing offensive tackle Tony Hills (Twitter link).
The loss of Williams is another significant blow to New Orleans’ secondary, which is already without No. 1 cornerback Delvin Breaux for several weeks because of the broken fibula he suffered in Week 1.
Like Breaux, Williams is a starter for the Saints. The second-year man missed his rookie year with a torn hamstring, but his latest issue looked far more serious at first. In the opening quarter of the Saints’ 16-13 loss to the Giants on Sunday, Williams’ head hit the right knee of Giants tight end Larry Donnell. There were initial fears that Williams had a spinal cord injury, and he had to be carted off the field on a stretcher. In the end, Williams emerged with a concussion severe enough to keep him out for the foreseeable future.
With both Breaux and Williams down, the 0-2 Saints are now especially thin at corner as they prepare to face the NFC South rival Falcons this week. Undrafted rookie Ken Crawley took over for Williams on Sunday. The Saints’ other options include another undrafted rookie, De’vante Harris, as well as Sterling Moore and B.W. Webb.
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