Vikings Place DT Armon Watts On IR
The Vikings have placed defensive tackle Armon Watts on injured reserve. To fill his roster spot, they’ve signed defensive end Eddie Yarbrough off the Bills’ practice squad. 
The Vikings selected Watts out of Arkansas with a sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft. Watts did not play in the first half of the season, but he suited up for six of the team’s final seven games. In those games, he tallied 1.5 sacks.
Yarbrough appeared in 31 games for the Bills in 2017 and 2018, including six starts. This year, he missed the team’s final cut, but he hooked on with their practice squad. All of a sudden, Yarbrough has a chance at a Super Bowl ring.
The Vikings will face the Saints on Saturday in New Orleans. The secondary will have its work cut out for them as they try to keep a lid on Michael Thomas, so the Vikes are hoping for some pass rush pressure against Drew Brees.
Eagles Place Brandon Brooks On IR
The Eagles have officially placed guard Brandon Brooks on injured reserve. To fill his spot on the roster, they’ve signed wide receiver Shelton Gibson. 
Brooks suffered a shoulder injury in Eagles’ regular season finale and soon after, head coach Doug Pederson announced today that Brooks would be out for the playoffs. It’s a bad blow for the Birds – Brooks is one of the best at his position, and he was named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl this year.
Despite suffering an Achilles tear in January, Brooks played in all 16 games for the Eagles in 2019, providing much-needed consistency for an offense that desperately needed it. On the plus side – right tackle Lane Johnson is aiming to play in the Eagles’ wild card weekend showdown against the Seahawks.
Gibson, 24, appeared in 20 games for the Eagles between 2017 and 2018. The former fifth-round pick has three career catches for 59 yards to his credit.
Paul DePodesta To Run Browns Coaching Search
The Browns’ head coaching search will be run by chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. Apparently, this wasn’t established until just recently. Up until now, candidates were receiving mixed messages about who was directing the search.
[RELATED: Browns Considering Mike McCarthy-Eliot Wolf Pairing]
After firing head coach Freddie Kitchens and parting ways with GM John Dorsey, the Browns’ power structure was thrown into flux. DePodesta, it seems, will be leading the charge for owner Jimmy Haslam and it’s not hard to imagine the team’s next GM reporting directly to him.
Mike McCarthy will be the Browns’ first HC interview. The team is mulling the possibility of hiring McCarthy and elevating assistant GM Eliot Wolf, which would reunite the two after a long run together in Green Bay.
Other candidates on the Browns’ radar include Josh McDaniels, Eric Bieniemy, Greg Roman, Kevin Stefanski and 49ers assistants Robert Saleh, Mike McDaniel and Matt LaFleur. Baylor head coach Matt Rhule, meanwhile, turned down the opportunity to interview with the Browns.
Redskins To Hire Jack Del Rio
Ron Rivera‘s staff is already starting to take shape. On Wednesday, the Redskins agreed to hire Jack Del Rio as their defensive coordinator (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). 
Del Rio, 56, was either a head coach or defensive coordinator in every NFL season from 2002-17. However, he’s been out of coaching since the end of the 2017 season, when he was canned as the Raiders’ head coach.
JDR’s Raiders posted a 12-4 record in 2016 en route to their first playoff berth in 14 years, but that campaign was sandwiched by two losing seasons. All in all, he went 25-23 as the Raiders’ HC and his defenses were spotty at best.
Before all of that, he was responsible for the Broncos’ defense from 2012-2014, a run that included two top 5 finishes. He also served as the Jaguars’ head coach for nine years. Del Rio took the Jaguars to the playoffs twice, including a 2007 season in which they toppled the Steelers in the playoffs before running into the Patriots in the divisional round.
JDR will have his work cut out for him in D.C. Last year, the Redskins finished 27th in points allowed and yards. On the plus side, they have lots young talent and some cap room to work with as they retool the defense.
Texans Activate J.J. Watt
J.J. Watt is back. Officially. 
On Tuesday, the Texans formally activated their star defender, per a club announcement. Watt will return to the field for Wild Card weekend to face the Bills on Saturday.
Watt was double-teamed 30% of the time on his edge rusher snaps this year, more than any other qualifying player in the NFL. He still managed to tally four sacks and 24 tackles in eight games, up until he tore his pectoral muscle. Typically, pec surgery rules players out for three or four months, but Watt beat out the doctor’s prognosis by a wide margin.
Re-injury risk does exist here, but Watt encountering such a scenario would not jeopardize his status for Week 1 of next season. The Texans have been without their future Hall of Fame pass rusher, and their pass rush has suffered. Watt’s 21 QB hits led the league at the time of his injury, and 5.5 of Whitney Mercilus‘ 7.5 sacks came during the seven games in which Watt played from start to finish.
This will obviously increase the Texans’ chances of winning their first playoff game in three years. Houston had Watt for its 2018 wild-card game against Indianapolis but lost. Watt did not play in the Texans’ two 2016 playoff games. He’s the only player in NFL history to record two 20-plus-sack seasons, so this transaction will alter the Bills’ game plan.
To make room for Watt, the Texans placed safety Tashaun Gipson on injured reserve. The veteran had 51 tackles and three interceptions in 14 games this season. Gipson suffered a transverse process fracture in his back, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle notes. The former Browns and Jaguars starter signed a three-year, $22.5MM deal with the Texans this offseason.
Cowboys Eyeing Greg Roman?
Some Cowboys officials have Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman in mind for the head coaching position, if it comes available (Twitter link via Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports). As of this writing, the Cowboys still have Jason Garrett as their head coach, so they have not requested an interview with Roman. 
Roman’s stock has skyrocketed this year along with the play of quarterback Lamar Jackson. While Dak Prescott is a different type of player, the pro-Roman crowd in Dallas believes that the Baltimore OC can jumpstart the offense with his run-dominant concepts.
Under Roman’s tutelage in 2019, Jackson threw for 3,127 yards and a league-leading 36 touchdowns against just six interceptions. He also rushed for 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns – all in just 15 games, since he was rested in Week 17.
Since breaking into the NFL in 2011, Roman has served as the OC of the 49ers, Bills, and the Ravens. He has never served as a head coach at the collegiate or professional level.
NFL Bans Rod Taylor
The NFL has suspended free agent guard Rod Taylor indefinitely, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). Taylor is no stranger to the NFL’s disciplinary program and this latest ban could be his last. 
Taylor, 25, has now been hit with three separate suspensions from the NFL. First, there was a four-game suspension in September, believed to be tied to PEDs. Then, in October, he was handed a ten-game suspension for reasons unknown.
Taylor was a 2018 seventh-round draft choice by the Bengals. He ended up missing his entire rookie campaign after tearing his ACL on the first day of training camp. The team was confident he’d make the roster prior to the injury, but they didn’t like what he looked like when he returned. Taylor was ultimately waived by the organization in June.
As a senior at Ole Miss in 2017, Taylor started all 12 games at right tackle. Cincinnati had converted him to a guard before he went down. He’s versatile and talented, but Taylor will have a serious mountain to climb if he ever wants to play in the NFL again.
Steelers To Keep Mason Rudolph
Mason Rudolph will return to the Steelers in 2020, head coach Mike Tomlin says (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor). Rudolph will serve as the backup to Ben Roethlisberger, who says he intends to play in 2020 and make a full recovery from his season-ending elbow injury. 
[RELATED: Big Ben Vows To Return]
Rudolph had an up-and-down year, to say the least. Putting aside the infamous Browns brawl, Rudolph had some solid moments as Big Ben’s midseason fill-in. He ultimately went 5-3 in eight starts with 13 touchdowns against nine interceptions. Things got more turbulent as the season went on, however, and he was ultimately leapfrogged by Devlin Hodges. Rudolph took the reins back from Duck midway through the Steelers’ Week 16 game against the Jets, but he was forced out by a shoulder injury that ultimately ended his season.
Tomlin says he wishes he got to see more out of Rudolph in 2019 and he’ll be able to take a closer look at the 24-year-old next year as he holds the clipboard for Roethlisberger.
Latest On Browns’ Head Coaching Search
The Browns’ GM search is underway. On Tuesday, the Browns fired John Dorsey (or, mutually agreed to part ways with the veteran exec, depending on who you ask).
Before that, the Browns axed first-year head coach Freddie Kitchens. After that, the Browns wasted little time in requesting interviews. Here’s the latest on the names being considered for the job:
- 49ers’ run game coordinator Mike McDaniel is likely to interview with the Browns, a source tells ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). No date has been set yet, but McDaniel figures to be one of three SF coaches to get a look. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and passing-game coordinator Mike LaFleur will also reportedly be interviewed this weekend.
- In addition to that Niners trio, the Browns have also requested an interview with Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy, as Schefter tweets. It’s shaping up to be a busy bye week for Bienemy, who has also drawn interest from the Panthers and Giants.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/31/19
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: WR Tim White
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: WR Jaylen Smith