Redskins, Tress Way Agree To Extension
The Redskins and punter Tress Way have agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth more than $15MM, sources tell NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). The new deal, which will be formally inked on Monday, will keep the Pro Bowler under club control through the 2024 season. 
Way signed with the Bears as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma in 2013. After losing out on punting competitions in back-to-back offseasons, he found his home with the Redskins in 2014 when he took over for Robert Malone.
Since then, Way has averaged 46.6 yards per punt. This year, he’s been averaging a career-high 49.2 yards per try, thanks in part to a 79-yard bomb against the Panthers in Week 13. Way was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his work against Carolina and he received his Pro Bowl nod soon after.
Fans of the 3-12 Redskins haven’t had much to cheer for this year, but they do have one of the league’s better punters in Way. On Sunday, Way & Co. will have a chance to spoil the Cowboys’ season in their finale.
Falcons To Keep Dan Quinn, Thomas Dimitroff
The Falcons will be making lots of changes this offseason, but they won’t be in the hunt for a new head coach or general manager. On Friday, the Falcons announced that they’ll retain both Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff in 2020. 
However, they have made one significant change – secondary coach and assistant head coach Raheem Morris has been named as the Falcons’ new defensive coordinator. The move will go into effect immediately after the Falcons’ season finale.
Quinn and Dimitroff will return next year, though they’ll both report directly to Falcons CEO Rich McKay, who will continue to report to owner Arthur Blank. Blank, per the press release, “will retain oversight of the football operation.”
The decision to keep the duo doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given their late season success. The Falcons were disappointing on the whole, but they are riding a three-game winning streak heading into their season finale against the Buccaneers.
Quinn’s seat starting heating up back in November, when the Falcons got off to an atrocious 1-7 start. At the time, Quinn’s defense ranked near the bottom of the league in just about every defensive category, with nearly 400 yards of total offense allowed per game. Things have turned around recently – the Falcons held the Saints to nine points in a Week 10 win and capped the Niners at just 22 points en route to a December upset.
In the 2016 season, Quinn led the Falcons to the Super Bowl, though their painful collapse cost them their first Lombardi Trophy. His club followed up with a 10-6 mark in the following season, but they’ve been on a downhill slide ever since. In 2020, Quinn will return for a sixth season at the helm, giving him an opportunity to right the ship.
Dimitroff has served as the Falcons’ GM since the 2008 season with mixed results, though he is responsible for drafting team pillars including Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, with the latter coming to Atlanta via a king’s ransom of picks. He’ll stay for a 12th season as Falcons GM, though more changes could be coming to the front office:
“Every year we evaluate all our football operations and this year I have asked Rich to work closely with Thomas and Dan over the next couple of weeks to conduct a top-to-bottom review, inclusive of structure, processes, resourcing and personnel to identify whatever changes are necessary to enable us to compete consistently at the highest level,” Blank said in a statement. “In my time as owner, and particularly since 2008, we have been one of the winningest teams in the NFC ranking fourth in wins and across the NFL, tied for seventh in wins, and that remains the only acceptable result for us now and in the future.”
Antonio Brown To Work Out For Saints
The Saints are set to audition Antonio Brown. Brown leaked the news via his personal Instagram on Friday and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) has confirmed the workout. 
Although Brown is a free agent, it remains to be seen whether the NFL will allow him to actually suit up for a club in 2019. Currently, the star wide receiver is in limbo. The league office started investigating Brown after he was accused of sexual abuse in a lawsuit in September. The NFL has since interviewed Brown, but there’s still no word on his status.
Teams have reportedly been interested in Brown, one of the most dominant offensive players in the modern era. But, up until today, no one has moved to bring the controversial star in for a workout.
If Brown is signed and cleared to play, the Saints would arguably boast the most lethal 1-2 WR combination in the league with Brown lining up opposite of Michael Thomas. Brown would have to get ready and learn the playbook in short order, but he could have an extra week to gear up if the Saints are able to secure a first-round bye. A combination of a Saints win over the Panthers and losses by the Packers or 49ers would give the NFC South champs an automatic pass to the divisional round.
The workout is not believed to be related to Thomas’ hand injury, which has limited him in practice this week, as Mike Triplett of ESPN.com tweets. Even though Thomas is on track to play, the Saints are thin at receiver on the whole. The Saints just placed Krishawn Hogan on IR and, besides Thomas, no Saints WR has more than 29 catches on the season.
At minimum, if Brown is signed, it could help to jumpstart the NFL disciplinary process. Many expect the league office to place Brown on the Commissioner’s Exempt list once he puts pen to paper, keeping him away from the field until his investigation is complete.
NFL Suspends Falcons CB Jordan Miller
The NFL announced that Falcons cornerback Jordan Miller has been suspended for four games due to a violation of the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. The suspension will go into effect immediately, with the remaining three games on the ban being enforced in 2020. 
Miller, 22, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Falcons in 2019. He still has three years to go on his four-year, $2.75MM rookie deal.
In his freshman season, Miller appeared in ten games and notched four tackles and one fumble recovery. Next year, he may get a better chance to showcase his bump-and-run coverage skills, but, first he’ll have to sit out the early weeks of the 2020 season.
The Falcons will close out the 2019 season against the Buccaneers, without Miller on the roster. The game won’t have any playoff implications, but a win would give the 6-9 Falcons four straight wins to close out the year.
Wade Phillips Wants To Continue Coaching
Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips wants to continue coaching, regardless of whether he receives a new deal from the Rams this offseason. When asked about rumblings of a coaching shakeup in L.A., the 72-year-old made it known that retirement isn’t on his mind. 
“I enjoy coaching. I want to continue. I’m going to do the best I can do,” Phillips told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “If that’s not good enough for somebody, it isn’t.”
Phillips, who will turn 73 before training camp gets underway next year, has been the Rams’ defensive coordinator for the past three seasons as a part of head coach Sean McVay’s inaugural staff. His coaching career, which started all the way back in 1976, includes too many stops to list in this space. Among his more notable positions: a three-year run as the Cowboys’ head coach and a second act as the defensive coordinator of the Broncos, yielding a Super Bowl ring and the creation of their vaunted “No Fly Zone” secondary.
Under Phillips, the Rams have yet to finish as a top-ten teams in points or yards allowed, despite their ample defensive star power. Still, he’s one of the most highly-respected defensive minds in the league today and should have plenty of opportunities ahead of him if he parts ways with the Rams.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/26/19
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Oakland Raiders
- Signed: DE Ade Aruna
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: C Casey Dunn
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Ishmael Hyman, TE Jordan Leggett
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LB Nigel Harris
- Released: LB Josh Smith
Cowboys’ Jason Witten To Keep Playing?
Sunday’s regular season finale could mark the final game of the Cowboys’ 2019 season and, in turn, the last game in Jason Witten‘s storied career. For what it’s worth, the tight end isn’t viewing Sunday’s contest against the Redskins as his swan song. 
[RELATED: Cowboys Still “Bullish” On Dak Prescott]
“I really don’t envision this being my last game. I just haven’t approached it that way,” the 37-year-old said (Twitter link via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News). “We’ll see what happens down the road.”
Witten rejoined the Cowboys after a year in the broadcast booth. Despite his advanced age and, perhaps, a bit of rust, Witten has remained productive. Appearing and starting in all 15 of the Cowboys’ games to date, Witten has notched 59 catches for 505 yards and four touchdowns. His per-catch average of 8.6 yards is a step back from his career average (10.7 per grab), but it appears that Witten still has plenty of offer, if he wants to continue his career.
Witten’s one-year, $3.5MM base-salaried deal will expire at the end of the season. After that, he figures to have plenty of options – the Cowboys would likely welcome him back for a 17th season on the field or he could even transition to coaching. If Witten wants to go to the sidelines, the Cowboys could have an opening for him.
Jacob Eason Enters NFL Draft
Jacob Eason is going pro. On Thursday, the Washington quarterback announced that he’ll forego his remaining eligibility to enter the 2020 NFL Draft. 
“Playing this season for the University of Washington has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. UW has given me an incredible opportunity to develop as a football player and a person, and I am forever grateful and honored to be a Husky,” Eason wrote in a letter to his fans and followers.
Eason, a five-star recruit out of Washington’s Lake Stevens high school, started his collegiate career at the University of Georgia, but a knee injury late in the 2017 season caused him to change course. When Eason was unable to regain his job from Jake Fromm, he transferred to UW and took over as the starter in 2019. In 13 games this year, Eason completed 64.2% of his throws for 3,132 yards with 23 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
Eason is widely projected to be selected in the first two rounds of the NFL draft and could very easily go in the top 32 if he performs well in workouts. Some evaluators may prefer Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, but Eason is widely regarded as having the best arm strength of any top QB in this year’s class.
Bengals To Place William Jackson III On IR
Bengals cornerback William Jackson will finish the year on the injured reserve list. The team is expected to shut Jackson down this week so that he can start rehabbing his injured shoulder, as Geoff Hobson of the team website tweets. 
Jackson, 27, has recorded 37 stops and one interception in 14 games (13 starts) this season. Unfortunately, the shoulder injury that forced him out of the Bengals’ narrow loss to the Dolphins last week will also keep him from playing in the season finale against the Browns.
Jackson kept a lid on Odell Beckham Jr. in the team’s Week 14 matchup against Cleveland, but the Bengals will have to find coverage help elsewhere as they aim for their second win of 2019. Whether they win or lose, the Bengals will own the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft, so they have that to look forward to, at least.
Jackson, the No. 24 overall pick in the 2016 draft, is set to play out 2020 on his fifth-year option, which will carry a $9.594MM cap number. His salary is guaranteed for injury, so he’ll be secure regardless of what happens from here.
Mike Harris Eyes NFL Return
Former Vikings offensive lineman Mike Harris is hoping to return to the NFL, as Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press writes. A congenital brain condition forced him to retire in 2017, but he’s keeping his fingers crossed for good news in January when he meets with specialists. 
Harris stayed close to the Vikings this year, serving as an NFL uniform inspector for Vikings home games. His itch to play hasn’t subsided much from the sidelines.
“Every game I’m out there at U.S. Bank Stadium, hearing that (Gjallarhorn) blow, hearing the crowd going, I miss being on the field playing,’’ said Harris.
Before the diagnosis, Harris served as a key cog for the Vikings in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, he started all 16 games at right guard, but he spent the 2016 season on the non-football illness list. If he gets good news, Harris could be back on the field sometime next year.
“That would be a cool comeback story, wouldn’t it?’’ Harris said. “It would truly be a miracle. But anything’s possible. I just turned 31, so I’m a little bit older, but my body feels great. The only thing that made me retire is just one little thing in my brain, but the rest of my body is excellent.’’
Harris’ brain arteriovenous malformation was repaired with surgery in 2017. After the operation, doctors told him there was just a 5% chance of recurrence. In a few weeks, Harris will find out whether or not a comeback attempt is advisable.