Titans TE Jonnu Smith Done For Year
Titans tight end Jonnu Smith is going to miss the rest of the season with an MCL injury, a source tells ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Smith, 23, went down while blocking for Derrick Henry on his historic 99-yard touchdown run and the injury proved to be serious. He’ll be placed on injured reserve this week in order to open up a spot on the roster.
Smith has largely been utilized as a blocker in Tennessee, though he has flashed his hands on occasion. In a November loss to the Colts, Smith had six grabs for 44 yards. He also scored three touchdowns during the month of November. His season ends with 20 catches for 258 yards and three TDs,
Smith, a third-round pick in the 2017 draft, has two more years to go on his rookie contract. He’s scheduled to count for $845K next season and $933K in 2020, the final year of his deal.
The Titans kept their playoff hopes alive with Thursday’s win, thanks in large part to an all-time great performance from Henry. They currently have a 27% chance of reaching the postseason, according to Five Thirty Eight, with a pair of winnable matchups on deck against the Giants and Redskins.
NFL Suspends Jets’ Darron Lee
Jets linebacker Darron Lee has been suspended for four games due to a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. There are only four games left in the Jets’ season, so the ban ends his 2018 campaign. 
[RELATED: Major Rift Between Jets’ Bowles, Maccagnan]
This has been a trying year for the Jets, but Lee was enjoying the best season of his professional career. In 12 games (all starts), the former first-round pick amassed 74 tackles, three interceptions, and a pick six. He ranks as Pro Football Focus’ No. 20 ranked linebacker in the NFL, which is leaps and bounds better than his previous showings. The four-game absence will cost the linebacker $655,934, according to Overthecap.com (Twitter link).
Without Lee, the Jets will have to do some shuffling in their 3-4 scheme. Neville Hewitt is the only true inside linebacker on the bench, but the club could also find a way to get Frankie Luvu or Kevin Pierre-Louis on the first team with some creative reorganization.
The Jets aren’t playing for much at this point of the season, but they are eager to avenge their embarrassing Nov. 11 loss against the Bills this Sunday. Unfortunately, have to try and get that done without one of their better defenders.
Colts Waive TE Clive Walford
Clive Walford‘s time with the Colts has come to an end. On Friday, the Colts waived the tight end and promoted wide receiver Daurice Fountain from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. 
Walford, 27, joined the Colts in late November after the loss of Jack Doyle. While Eric Ebron has been heavily involved in the Colts offense, Walford did not see any snaps at tight end during his brief stint in Indianapolis.
Walford’s only career action came with the Raiders, where he made 70 catches for 768 yards and six touchdowns over the course of three seasons. The Jets picked him up after his release in March, but he was unable to make Gang Green’s final cut.
Fountain, a Northern Iowa product, was taken in the fifth round of this year’s draft by the Colts. He didn’t make the final cut, but the Colts stashed him on the practice squad in an effort to hone his athletic potential. Fountain put himself on the NFL radar last year with 66 catches for 943 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior and the Colts feel that he can be a contributor down the road.
The Colts are still clinging to slim odds of making the postseason, but Fountain could see some burn if they fall out of contention in the coming weeks.
Latest On Chiefs, Kareem Hunt
In the wake of the leaked Kareem Hunt footage, many are questioning the thoroughness of investigations by the Chiefs and the NFL. According to one source who spoke with Kevin Van Valkenburg and Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com, the Chiefs were instructed to stand down on their fact-finding by the NFL, who insisted that the league office would handle the investigation. 
[RELATED: More Allegations Against Kareem Hunt]
The NFL’s protocol, according to the source, is for the league to handle such investigations. Of course, it’s fair to wonder if the security tape would have been discovered sooner had the Chiefs been directed to pursue it in tandem with the NFL. It’s also unclear whether the Chiefs’ hands were really tied in the matter – if they wanted to press the hotel for the video or further information, it’s unlikely that the league could have stopped them.
As Van Valkenburg and Rothstein note, the Hunt situation may be even messier for the NFL than the Ray Rice incident. The league built up its investigative arm after Rice’s assault to better handle serious off-the-field incidents, but that system clearly failed in the case of Hunt. Hunt, who is now unemployed, will have to answer for the disturbing February incident as well as two other allegations of violence in the last 13 months.
Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins To Miss Time
Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins is expected to miss four-to-six weeks with a foot injury, according to Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter). That would explain why the Chiefs signed Kelvin Benjamin to a prorated one-year deal earlier this week. 
The Chiefs signed Watkins to a whopping three-year, $48MM deal this offseason with $30MM fully guaranteed at signing. In typical fashion, Watkins has provided glimpses of brilliance and ineffectiveness due to injury. At his best, Watkins is an absolute game-changer, as evidenced by his eight catches for 107 receiving yards and two scores against the Broncos in late October.
This, however, is the other side of the coin. Watkins will have to rest up the foot that has plagued him since 2015 and the Chiefs will hope that he’s ready to go in time for the playoffs.
The Chiefs, of course, still have plenty of firepower even without Watkins or embattled running back Kareem Hunt on the field. Patrick Mahomes has been sensation, Tyreek Hill is too fast for anyone to guard consistently, and Travis Kelce has been playing out of his mind lately. Benjamin may not be a proper one-for-one substitute for Watkins, but there’s upside there as well, and he’ll be motivated to showcase his skills before free agency.
Bears QB Mitch Trubisky To Start Vs. Rams
The Bears expect to have quarterback Mitchell Trubisky under center when they face the Rams on Sunday, as Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. Chicago has struggled with Chase Daniel at QB for the last two games and Trubisky’s return is expected to give them a boost. 
Daniel was sharp in a Thanksgiving win over the Lions, but the Bears were upset by the Giants last weekend in a close contest. Daniel is regarded as one of the better backup QBs in the NFL – despite his lack of actual playing time in recent years – but things just didn’t click for Chicago with Daniel at the helm.
“I think it’s a transition for our own players on offense,” head coach Matt Nagy said on Thursday. “All of a sudden you have a new teacher, right? A substitute teacher comes in, and it’s a different voice and you’re trying to figure out, ‘Do I like this teacher or not?’ ”
Trubisky, 24, threw for 20 touchdowns against nine interceptions before a shoulder injury took him out of action. Of course, his six TD/zero INT performance against the Bucs boosted that ratio, but he’s been playing solid football on the whole this year.
The Bears already have a 94% likelihood of making the playoffs, according to Five Thirty Eight, but a win against the star-studded Rams would clinch a postseason berth and move them even closer to the divisional crown. A combination of a Bears win and a Vikings loss would pretty much seal up the NFC North for Chicago, allowing them to rest key players down the stretch.
Bruce Arians Unlikely To Coach In 2019?
Bruce Arians has been publicly lobbying for the Browns’ job, but the 66-year-old isn’t necessarily expecting to get pulled out of retirement. When asked if he’ll coach in 2019, Arians said, “It’s probably 99-to-1 against,” (Twitter link via Tyler Dunne of Bleacher Report.) 
It’s unclear whether Arians is having second thoughts about a return to the sidelines or if he has received word that the Browns are not interested in his services. It’s also possible that Arians, a unique character, is simply having some fun with the rumor mill. As recently as three weeks ago, we heard that Arians would likely be considered in 2019 head coaching searches.
Arians has said that he would only consider coaching if it was for the Browns’ position, one that may not truly be available if they finish out strong under Gregg Williams. The Packers’ head coaching job recently opened up with the firing of Mike McCarthy, but he is rumored to have “very little” interest in that post.
Arians posted a 49-30-1 regular season record with the Cardinals over five seasons. He also guided the Colts to a 9-3 finish over the last three months of the 2012 season when serving as their interim HC.
Chiefs Waive DE Jarvis Jenkins
The Chiefs waived defensive end Jarvis Jenkins on Friday morning. The move created room for the newly-acquired Kelvin Benjamin, who is set to make his Chiefs debut on Sunday against the Ravens. 
Jenkins was a hot commodity after he notched four sacks in the 2015 season. He didn’t live up to his two-year, $7MM contract with $3MM guaranteed, but he found a role with the Chiefs after Gang Green let him go in November of 2016. Over the last two years and change, Jenkins has appeared in 30 games for the Chiefs, compiling 20 tackles.
Jenkins will be subject to the waiver wire since the trade deadline has passed. If no one picks him up in the next 24 hours, he’ll be free to sign with any club.
Panthers Sign K Chandler Catanzaro
The Panthers signed former Bucs kicker Chandler Catanzaro, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Catanzaro will serve as insurance for kicker Graham Gano, who was limited in practice on Thursday. 
To make room for Catanzaro, the Panthers placed guard Amini Silatolu on IR with a knee injury. The 30-year-old has been dealing with a concussion and doctors were unable to clear him before this week’s contest against the Browns. Silatolu appeared in 47 games and made 31 starts between 2012-2017 for the Panthers, but saw time in just six games this year as a reserve.
Catanzaro got the boot from the Bucs in November, one day after he missed two of three field goal attempts against the Redskins. At the time, Catanzaro said that he was working to identify the issue.
“I’m trying to find (the reason for the misses),” Catanzaro said after sending two of his tries wide right in the 16-3 loss. “The ball is just not going through the yellow poles right now. It’s got to do that. I’m not sure (what’s wrong). I just try to take it one kick at a time. … Something’s wrong, and I’ve done my best to fix it, and up until now, it hasn’t been fixed.”
So far, the veteran has a subpar 73.3% conversion rate on field goal tries and four missed extra point attempts on the year.
Major Rift Between Jets’ Bowles, Maccagnan
It has not been a happy marriage for Jets head coach Todd Bowles and GM Mike Maccagnan, as Manish Mehta of the Daily News details. While the two have been professional in their interactions with each other, Mehta hears that there has been a serious division between the two and a whole lot of mistrust. 
There have been numerous disagreements between the two men, including a dispute over Alvin Kamara in the 2017 draft. Jets coaches begged the GM to trade up for the University of Tennessee running back, but Maccagnan refused to pay a premium for him. Maccagnan attempted to satisfy then-offensive coordinator John Morton by selecting Alabama wide receiver ArDarius Stewart that year, but he quickly washed out and so did Morton.
Morton was the second of three OCs to serve under Bowles, and the lack of continuity has undoubtedly hurt the Jets and their efforts to build a potent offense. That’s probably part of the rationale in the team’s reported plans to keep the GM and fire Bowles this offseason.
If Maccagnan hopes to stay with the Jets beyond 2019, he’ll have to display the scouting acumen that got him hired in the first place. Only 64% of players drafted by the Jets from 2015-2018 are still on an active NFL roster, versus the league average of 76%. While he’s hit on his first round picks and found some keepers in the late rounds of the draft, Maccagnan’s track record in rounds 2-5 leave much to be desired.
Maccagnan must also use the Jets $100MM+ in cap room wisely. The Jets had tons of cash to spent last spring, but they whiffed on quarterback Kirk Cousins and settled for a monster deal with cornerback Trumaine Johnson. The former Rams standout has struggled all season and his five-year, $72.5MM deal may prove to be a costly error.