Jets QB Sam Darnold Won’t Play Vs. Eagles
The Jets will be without quarterback Sam Darnold for a while longer. They were hoping for him to be cleared in time for this week’s game against the Eagles, but head coach Adam Gase says he won’t be able to play. 
[RELATED: No Timetable For Jets’ C.J. Mosley]
Darnold has been out with mono, which has badly affected his energy and potentially would put his spleen in jeopardy if he were to take the field. In the meantime, the Jets have turned to Luke Falk, a young and inexperienced QB. His last start dropped the Jets to 0-3, though that’s not necessarily his fault – there are problems abound in New York.
Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in 2018, went 4-9 as a starter last year. He completed 57.7% of his throws in the Jets’ rocky offense and, so far, has only played in one game this season. In that losing effort against the Bills, he completed 28 of 41 passes for 175 yards with one touchdown.
Latest On Raiders’ Vontaze Burfict
The appeal hearing for Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict will take place on Tuesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. As it stands, Burfict is facing a suspension that would sideline him for the rest of the season. 
Per the collective bargaining agreement, these sessions are heard by an appeals officer jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA. This hearing will be presided by Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks, who upheld Burfict’s three-game suspension in 2016 after his controversial hit on Antonio Brown.
The NFL moved to keep Burfict off the field for the final 13 weeks of the ’19 campaign after he drove his head into Jack Doyle‘s helmet on Sunday. Burfict’s history won’t help him here but this is, by far, the lengthiest suspension ever set against a player for an on-field infraction, so Burfict may have a good chance at getting the suspension reduced.
Vikings’ Stefon Diggs Returns To Practice
The Vikings and Stefon Diggs may be at odds with each other, but it seems that they’ve reached some sort of understanding. On Thursday, Diggs returned to practice, according to head coach Mike Zimmer. 
Diggs, who signed a five-year, $81MM extension with the team, reportedly has some beef with the team. The club, officially, said that Diggs was absent from practice for non-injury reasons. The buzz has been that it stems from his dissatisfaction with the club, though the exact cause of that rift is not quite clear.
In any event, Diggs seems ready to go for this weekend’s game against the Giants. Assuming he plays, he’ll try to help his club improve to 3-2 on the year.
“I want to be here. I love being here,” Diggs said in 2018, before inking a whopping new deal with the Vikes. “I love being a part of the organization. They took a chance on me early on so I love it here as far as where we’re at. … Hopefully, we can get some things done and we’ll see how it goes.”
Patriots To Sign Younghoe Koo
The Patriots will sign Mike Nugent to serve as their new kicker, but they’re not stopping there. In addition to that move, they’ll also add Younghoe Koo to the practice squad, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. 
[RELATED: Patriots Place Stephen Gostkowski on IR]
Koo, 25, appeared in four games for the Chargers in 2017, connecting on three of his six field goal attempts and all nine of his extra point tries. Recently, he had a stint in the Alliance of American Football, before its abrupt ending midway through its inaugural season.
Koo’s struggles with the Bolts are well-documented, but his talent is clear. He did enough in ’17 to beat out Josh Lambo for the top job and the Patriots see enough potential in him to keep him on the ten-man squad.
He’ll be on standby in New England as a safety net for Nugent, who is taking over for Stephen Gostkowski.
Stefon Diggs At Odds With Vikings
The Vikings and Stefon Diggs are at a crossroads. Diggs has been absent from practice due to non-injury reasons and a spat between the organization and the wide receiver could be at the root of the issue, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com hears. 
The Vikings are adamant that they will not trade Diggs, Rapoport says, but it seems that something will have to change, one way or another, for the two sides to move forward. Teammates aren’t sure whether Diggs actually wants to be in Minnesota and he’s nowhere to be found as the Vikings are two days away from facing the Giants at the Meadowlands.
The writing has been on the wall for some time. Diggs, who is in the midst of a five-year, $81MM extension inked in 2018, has not talked to beat writers in about two weeks.
He also might not be the only frustrated wide receiver in Minnesota. Adam Thielen recently complained about the one-dimensional nature of the Vikings offense, prompting quarterback Kirk Cousins to apologize. It remains to be seen whether Cousins will try and mend fences with Diggs in similar fashion, or if a mea culpa would even quell the divide.
Diggs has 13 catches for 209 yards with one touchdown through four games after hauling in seven passes for 108 yards in a losing effort to the Bears. Last year, he set new career highs with 102 catches for 1,021 yards and nine TDs.
Patriots To Sign Mike Nugent
It appears that the Patriots’ kicking competition has come to a close. Mike Nugent will likely be signed as the club’s replacement for the injured Stephen Gostkowski, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter).
As Garafolo notes, Nugent’s teams have gone 0-for-5 in the playoffs, so this could be Nugent’s best possible opportunity to taste postseason victory. Across 14 seasons, Nugent has nailed 81.4% of his field goals – a rate that isn’t on a par with Gostkowski’s career work. Then again, few kickers can rival the storied career of Gostkowski.
Nugent spent three games with the Raiders last year and nailed all six of his tries. Before that, the 37-year-old kicked for the Jets, Bengals, Bears, and Cowboys.
Patriots To Work Out Younghoe Koo, Josh Gable
The Patriots will work out more kickers on Thursday, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. They’ll audition free agent Younghoe Koo, plus Josh Gable, who became a viral video sensation for his ludicrous accuracy. 
Gable plied his craft with the IFL’s Nebraska Danger and spent the 2017 rookie minicamp with the Pats. The Patriots liked what they saw from him, but did not have a pressing need for a kicker with the great Stephen Gostkowski handling kicking duties. That all changed this week, when the Patriots learned that Gostkowski was done for the season due to a hip injury.
Koo, meanwhile, has been on the workout circuit and the NFL’s fringes since his rocky start with the Chargers. As the Bolts’ kicker for the first quarter of the 2017 season, he bricked three key field goals that wound up costing them wins in the first two weeks of the season.
On Wednesday, the Pats took a gander at Kai Forbath, Elliott Fry, Mike Nugent, Blair Walsh, and Matthew Wright. It seems likely that they’ll reach a consensus and sign a new kicker before the end of business on Thursday. In a couple of days, they’ll travel to take on the Redskins.
Latest On Jaguars’ Jalen Ramsey
Jaguars star Jalen Ramsey will not practice on Wednesday, per the club’s daily blast. Ramsey is listed as unable to participate with a back injury, though many have been suspicious about his continued absence. 
Ramsey wants out of Jacksonville, and the Jaguars seem poised to trade him, but the club’s asking price seems to be a barrier to a deal. At the outset, they started the bidding at two first-round picks. Recently, a contending team offered two first-round choices, but the Jaguars turned down the deal with the belief that those picks would likely fall at the end of the draft.
Nearly every team in the league seems to be interested in Ramsey, but Peter King of NBC Sports recently speculated that the Chiefs and Ravens rank high on that list. He also believes the Chargers could join the fray.
For any club, Ramsey would mark a massive upgrade for today and become a huge cornerstone for seasons to come. The appeal is obvious – he’s one of the very best corners in the game and won’t turn 25 until later this month. On the flipside, acquiring Ramsey would mean giving the young star a top-of-the-market deal that is commensurate with his ability, so the notion of sacrificing two first-round picks for him is unpalatable to most franchises.
In related news, quarterback Gardner Minshew was added to the injury report with a knee ailment, but that issue is believed to be minor. Right now, it sounds like he’ll be available to face the Panthers this weekend.
Patriots To Work Out Kickers
The Patriots might be eyeing potential replacements for Stephen Gostkowski. On Wednesday, the Patriots will audition kickers, according to ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss. The names of the kickers in the tryout are not yet known.
The Patriots are rolling, but the usually stellar Gostkowski is not. In the last three weeks, he’s botched four extra points and a field goal, which is troubling even though the Pats remain undefeated.
Like many teams, the Patriots routinely hold mass tryouts to update their emergency lists in the event of injuries. However, this kicker cattle call does not feel like a pure coincidence, given the 35-year-old’s recent struggles.
Gostkowski made 84.4% of his kicks last season and owns a career 87.4% accuracy rate across 14 seasons. He also has a tremendous jewelry collection thanks to his time with the Patriots, but Bill Belichick isn’t one for sticking with players for purely sentimental reasons.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/1/19
We don’t dance now, we make minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: WR Pharoh Cooper
- Released: DT Miles Brown
Denver Broncos
- Signed: LB Jerry Attaochu
- Signed: OT Calvin Anderson
- Waived: LB Keishawn Bierria
Houston Texans
- Released: TE Jerell Adams
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: DT Trevon Coley
- Waived: DT Jihad Ward
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: TE Stephen Anderson
Minnesota Vikings
- Waived from reserve/injured: S Isaiah Wharton
New York Giants
- Suspended (four games, PEDs): TE Isaiah Searight
New York Jets
- Waived from exempt/left squad: TE Bucky Hodges
Oakland Raiders
- Waived from IR with injury settlement: DT Eddie Vanderdoes
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: CB Ryan Lewis
- Released: CB Ajene Harris
Washington Redskins
- Waived: WR Robert Davis