Falcons Name Raheem Morris As Interim Coach
The Falcons have finalized a deal to make Raheem Morris their interim head coach, as NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets. Morris, 44, takes over for Dan Quinn, who was jettisoned on Sunday. 
Morris served as the Buccaneers’ head coach from 2009 to 2011. He’s been with the Falcons since 2015, earning a promotion from secondary coach to defensive coordinator in 2020. Now, he’ll get a chance to audition for the top job as he tries to turn things around from 0-5. It all starts on Sunday, when the Falcons face the Vikings in Minnesota.
The Falcons bounced Quinn and GM Thomas Dimitroff on Sunday, leaving team president Rich McKay to oversee the roster. Dimitroff had served as the Falcons’ GM since 2008. Quinn, hired in 2015, was moments away from winning a Super Bowl less than four years ago. It’s been all downhill since then, and that NFC championship team fell apart rapidly. They managed to go 10-6 the following year but were 7-9 in each of the past two, and of course started this season 0-5. All in all, Quinn finished his run at a nearly even 43-42 through five-plus seasons.
Of course, there’s plenty of blame to go around in Atlanta. Even with tremendous talent at the skill positions, the Falcons will need a major overhaul this spring.
Titans On Track To Play Bills
The Titans had no new positives from Sunday’s round of COVID-19 testing, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). With that, they’re on track to play the Bills on Tuesday night.
Over the weekend, one Titans staffer tested positive for the coronavirus, though that person has not been at the team facility for roughly two weeks. The league believes that the staffer has not been in contact with other players, coaches, or executives, which means that Titans currently have the green light to play. If the team gets more positive test results tomorrow morning, that could change.
The Titans returned to their facilities on Saturday after two consecutive days of negative tests — then, the aforementioned personnel positive put things on hold. The Patriots are in a similar spot, and the ripple effect has created a scheduling quagmire across the league. If the Titans are able to play on Tuesday, the Broncos and Patriots will indeed play each other next Sunday. The Broncos and Chargers will then play each other in Week 8, which was supposed to be when Denver had its bye, and the Dolphins will now play the Broncos in Week 11. However, the Jaguars have now been impacted by this mess, as they were supposed to play the Broncos in Week 8. So, no matter what happens in Nashville, there is still more work to be done.
Jets’ “Presumptive Positive” COVID-19 Comes Back Negative
The “presumptive positive” test result for a Jets player has proven to be a false positive, per a club announcement. With that, their upcoming game against the Cardinals is on track to be played as scheduled.
“This evening, we received negative PCR COVID-19 test results for all players, coaches and personnel,” the team said in a statement. “Following a presumptive positive COVID-19 test and out of an abundance of caution to ensure everyone’s health and safety, we sent all players and personnel home this morning. We also initiated all NFL mandated protocols including player isolation, subsequent testing, and contact tracing.
“As we have thus far, we will continue to follow required health and safety protocols in the best interests of our coaches, players, staff and community. We look forward to our game this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.”
This comes on the heels of some good news for the Patriots and Titans, who received new positives in the last week. The latest round of testing came back negative for both clubs, which means they could resume practice on Saturday if everything remains stable.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/8/20
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: J.J. Wilcox
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: RB Antonio Williams
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: WR Reggie Begelton
Houston Texans
- Signed: K Brett Maher
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: LB Najee Goode
- Released: CB Christian Angulo
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Marcus Kemp
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DT Lee Autry
New England Patriots
- Signed: TE Paul Quessenberry
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: WR Tommylee Lewis
New York Giants
- Signed: DB Sean Chandler
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: DB Dante Olson
NFL To Investigate Titans Workouts
The NFL and the NFLPA will investigate the Titans’ unauthorized workouts, according to sources who spoke with Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). Recently released pictures showed skill players holding an informal practice together at a local high school, but Pelissero hears that there were other in-person meetings in the midst of the team’s COVID-19 outbreak.
Hypothetically, the violates could lead to the forced forfeiture games. For now, that’s not under consideration, and the Titans’ upcoming game against the Bills is technically scheduled to go on as planned.
Things seemed to be trending upwards for the Titans and their situation. Tuesday marked their second straight day of zero positive tests, but they’ve since received two new positive tests among players. The identities of those players have not been disclosed, though wide receiver Corey Davis was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list yesterday. Since September 24, the Titans (players and personnel) have received 23 positive test results in total.
The NFL’s latest memo indicates that teams could face six-figure fines, lose draft picks, or forfeit games for violating procedures. It remains to be seen how the NFL will handle the Titans, but their punishment is likely to be steep.
Texans Owner: Jack Easterby To Serve As Interim GM Only
Jack Easterby is the Texans’ interim GM, but he won’t be the team’s Texans’ GM for the 2021 season, owner Cal McNair tells John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. McNair also confirmed that he won’t give his next head coach the GM title.
“We’ll search for a general manager first, find the right guy, and then we’ll hire the coach,” McNair said. “Jack’s agreed to be the interim general manager while we conduct our search. Once we find the right GM, Jack will return to his position as executive vice president of football operations.”
O’Brien was fired on Monday after the Texans got off to an 0-4 start. For now, Romeo Crennel is serving as the team’s interim head coach. McNair says that the team’s internal conversations to fill the HC and GM roles have yet to begin. The speculation, however, started immediately. Speculatively, some have suggested that Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, current defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (Deshaun Watson’s former coach at Clemson) could be in the head coaching mix. For what it’s worth, Swinney says he’s not thinking about the Texans vacancy.
On the GM side, some wondered whether Easterby would wind up with the job, given his influence within the organization. Apparently, that won’t be happening — McNair says that Easterby will remain the club’s executive vice president of football operations, with another exec having final say over the roster.
New COVID-19 Positive Test For Titans
On Thursday morning, the Titans received word of yet another positive test, as ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets. Meanwhile, a separate “inconclusive” positive from Wednesday been re-tested and found to be a confirmed positive.
[RELATED: NFL Won’t Pause 2020 Season]
The Titans are currently scheduled to play the Bills on Sunday, but that game is very much in flux. This comes one week after the Titans’ outbreak forced the NFL to postpone their game against the Steelers. Since September 24, the Titans (players and personnel) have received 23 positive test results in total.
In addition to the obvious health concerns, the league is also looking at a logistical quagmire. Some have speculated that the regular season will extend to a newly formed Week 18. Others have wondered if the NFL will put the entire season on pause, though that option is not on the table at this time. And, as of this writing, the league is not considering a “bubble” scenario with players confined to team hotels.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs and Raiders received no positive tests in their latest round, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). There was concern in Kansas City after the Chiefs came in close contact with Stephon Gilmore, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year who was found to have had COVID-19 earlier this week. The Raiders also placed a player on the Reserve/COVID-19 list earlier this week, but, at this time, the virus does not appear to have spread throughout the locker room.
Titans’ Workout Violates NFL’s COVID-19 Rules
The Titans broke league protocols by gathering for a workout last week (Twitter link via Paul Kuharsky). Kuharsky’s story includes photo evidence, which could prove to be problematic for the team.
[RELATED: Titans Have Two New COVID-19 Positives]
The Titans were barred from gathering in person following their initial coronavirus outbreak. By working out at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, those involved could place league discipline. Hypothetically, this could lead to a forced forfeiture of a game, per the league’s updated guidelines for safety. For the time being, that scenario has not been discussed by league officials, Judy Battista of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears.
The Titans are currently slated to face the Bills in a Week 5 matchup at Nissan Stadium. That could change in the coming hours following word of more positive tests in Tennessee.
Latest On NFL’s COVID-19 Testing
The NFL received 84 positive test results between August 1 and October 3, per a Wednesday announcement from the league. That number includes 31 players and draws from a total of 370K+ tests.
The NFL had two confirmed positive tests among players and four new confirmed positives among other personnel between Sept. 20-26. Unfortunately, that number jumped to eleven confirmed positive player tests players and 15 new confirmed personnel positives from Sept. 27-Oct. 3. Among the recent players to test positive: Patriots quarterback Cam Newton, Patriots cornerback and reigning DPOY Stephon Gilmore, and two additional players from the Titans, who previously seemed to have their outbreak under wraps.
“The virus is still very much a threat not only to our season, but to the safety of everyone in our community,” said Dr. Thom Mayer, the NFLPA’s Medical Director. “We encourage everyone to do their part to follow the protocols and keep each other safe.”
Meanwhile, the state of Florida has given the Dolphins permission to operate at 65K capacity. However, citing CDC guidelines, the Dolphins will continue to operate at 13K capacity, CEO Tom Garfinkel says (Twitter link via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald).
Dabo Swinney: I’m Not Thinking About Texans Job
Could the Texans replace Bill O’Brien with Deshaun Watson’s former mentor, Dabo Swinney? According to the Clemson head coach, the answer is no. At least, for now. 
[RELATED: Texans Fire Bill O’Brien]
“I have not heard from Deshaun and that is not even anything that I want to even have to think about,” the two-time national champ said, via Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle. “You would be the one to ask that question out of all the questions. You don’t want to ask anything about Miami? Next question.”
Swinney was connected to the Texans job immediately following word of O’Brien’s firing. The speculation made — and still makes — lots of sense. The Tigers head coach isn’t just close with Watson, he also has a good relationship with executive Jack Easterby, who is currently in charge of operations.
Swinney famously compared Watson to Michael Jordan in the buildup to the 2017 draft, where the Texans landed him at No. 12 overall. Even with a football MJ under center, the Texans started 0-4, leading to O’Brien’s surprise dismissal.
If the Texans do go after Swinney, it’ll cost them — he currently ranks as the highest-paid college football coach in the nation with a salary of $9.3MM per year.