Patriots To Place WR Malcolm Mitchell On IR
The Patriots are placing wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell on Injured Reserve, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). 
Mitchell, selected in the fourth round of last year’s draft, had a strong rookie campaign for New England, catching 32 passes for 401 yards and four touchdowns. Unfortunately, he was slowed by a knee injury in Week 16 last season and was sidelined until midway through the postseason. The injury bug has gotten him once again, this time just hours before the 2017 season kickoff.
Mitchell has a strong rapport with Tom Brady, so the Pats would like to bring him back off of IR, if possible. If he can recover from his injury during the year, the Patriots can use one of their two IR-DTR spots to return him to the roster after eight weeks.
New England’s trade for 2015 Colts first-rounder Phillip Dorsett makes more sense now. While Dorsett has proven little as a wide receiver, he could be in line for some work soon now that Mitchell’s out. And despite his lack of a reputation for pass-catching competency, Dorsett still caught 33 passes for 528 yards last season. He and Danny Amendola are likely to join more prominent performers Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan as auxiliary targets.
Bengals, Vontaze Burfict Discussing Extension
The Bengals and linebacker Vontaze Burfict are discussing an extension, ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson hears (on Twitter). Burfict is currently scheduled to reach free agency after the 2017 season. 
Burfict’s talent is undeniable but his playing style has long been a source of controversy. His latest questionable tackle on Anthony Sherman in the preseason will have him shelved for the first three games of the 2017 season, down from an initial five-game ban. Burfict has only played in 58 of a possible 80 regular-season contests in his five-year career due to suspension and injury.
Burfict was Pro Football Focus’ No. 6 ranked linebacker in 2017, putting him behind only Jerrell Freeman, Luke Kuechly, Bobby Wagner, Paul Posluszny, and Sean Lee. In his suspension-shortened season, Burfict’s had 101 tackles and two sacks across eleven games.
The linebacker will celebrate his 27th birthday on Sept. 24, so the Bengals could be looking to control him for at least four extra years. Burfict would be sacrificing prime seasons in such an extension, but he also wouldn’t have to worry about what could be a tepid market for his services. One has to imagine that at least a few teams will shy away from Burfict given his track record.
The Bengals will be without Burfict when they take on the Ravens, Texans, and Packers in the first few weeks of the season.
Chiefs Cut RB C.J. Spiller
Poor C.J. Spiller. The running back was released on Thursday along with offensive lineman Jordan Devey, per a team announcement. 
This marks the second time inside of a week that Spiller has been cut by Kansas City. The veteran missed the team’s initial 53-man cut and was re-signed the same weekend only to get released hours in advance of the season opener.
Spiller and Devey’s contracts would have become guaranteed for the entire season if they were on the 53-man roster for the Chiefs’ first game, Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star notes. If they’re not scooped up by another team, the Chiefs could conceivably re-sign both players on Friday for the same deals, except non-guaranteed. That’s right – Spiller could wind up being released three times by the Chiefs within one week and back with the team in time for Week 2.
As of this writing, Kareem Hunt and Charcandrick West are the Chiefs’ only true running backs on the roster, not counting fullback Anthony Sherman. The Chiefs may look to promote undrafted Indiana product Devine Redding from the practice squad to round out the group.
Spiller, a first-round pick back in 2010, hasn’t had a truly productive season since 2013.
Browns To Cut S Calvin Pryor
The Browns are expected to release safety Calvin Pryor, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Pryor got into a fight with wide receiver Ricardo Louis before practice, prompting Cleveland to show him the door. He is not a vested veteran, so he will be subject to waivers.
Coach Hue Jackson has spoken about changing the Browns’ locker room culture and he demonstrated today that he will not tolerate players stepping out of line, even when it’s someone as significant as Pryor. The former first-round pick was projected to open up the season as the Browns’ starting strong safety.
The Browns acquired Pryor from the Jets in early June in exchange for linebacker Demario Davis. At the time, Pryor said he was ecstatic to have a chance at a tabula rasa.
“I feel like it was a great opportunity – have a fresh start, learn a new system and buy into a new culture,” the safety said over the summer. “I had a feeling [with the Jets] drafting two safeties, but I can’t control that. I’m excited. I can’t thank (the Browns) enough.”
So much for the new beginning. Pryor is now out of work just days before most teams start their seasons.
The “Louisville Slugger” ranked as a top-50 safety in the NFL in his first two seasons, per the metrics at Pro Football Focus. Last year, however, he declined in PFF’s rankings.
NFC Notes: Rams, Donald, Falcons
No surprise here, but Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is expected to miss Sunday’s season opener against Indianapolis as he continues his holdout, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Donald is presently at home with his family on the east coast and the two sides are not close to an agreement.
Holdouts typically do not drag into the regular season, but Donald has less to lose by staying home than other players fighting for a better contract. Le’Veon Bell, in theory, could have tried to drum up leverage by taking his holdout into mid-September, but that would have meant forfeiting game checks on a $12.12MM salary. Donald, meanwhile, is slated to earn only a fraction of that – $3.225MM – in 2017.
While we wait to see how things shake out between Donald and the Rams, let’s take a look at more news from the NFC:
- The Falcons converted $1MM of center Alex Mack‘s $6.75MM base salary into a signing bonus, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The move creates $750K of cap space for the current season. The Falcons are near the bottom of the league in terms of cap space this year, so every bit of flexibility will help them.
- Cardinals punter Andy Lee‘s new contract calls for base salaries of $1MM per year in 2017 and 2018, Mike Jurecki of 98.7 FM tweets. Arizona is hoping that Lee, 35, will help to turn around one of the league’s poorest punting units from 2016.
- The Bears auditioned eight players on Wednesday, reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune: wide receivers Mario Alford, Montay Crockett, Frankie Hammond, and Darreus Rogers were joined by defensive backs Dante Blackmon, Alex Carter, Brian Dixon, and Damian Swann. While Hammond and Dixon have played in the most NFL games, Carter might the most notable name on the list. A third-round pick of Detroit only two years ago, Carter has been limited by injuries and poor play and has only appeared in one pro contest.
- The Cardinals worked out running back Darius Victor on Wednesday, according to Herbie Teope of the Times-Picayune (Twitter link), who reports Victor has another audition on Monday for an unidentified team. Victor, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Towson, spent a month on New Orleans’ roster earlier this summer but was waived during final cutdowns. He’s likely a candidate for Arizona’s practice squad.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
Raiders’ Sebastian Janikowski Takes Pay Cut
Sebastian Janikowski has in fact taken a pay cut. The Raiders kicker’s salary has gone from $4.05MM to $3MM fully guaranteed, a source tells ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). As a part of the revised deal, however, Janikowski can make an additional $250K if he sinks 83% of his field goals. 
On late Wednesday night it was reported that Janikowski had resolved his “contractual differences” with the team. Unsurprisingly, that included a bit of a hair cut for the veteran kicker.
The Raiders auditioned kickers Mike Nugent, Josh Lambo, and Marshall Koehn on Labor Day and Lambo in particular was said to have excelled. Meanwhile, Janikowski was missing kicks in practice thanks to his bad back. The Raiders may or may not have been serious about the idea of cutting ties with their longest tenured player, but either way the tryouts gave them the leverage they needed to save some money against the cap.
Last year, Janikowski made 82.9% of his field goals and went 37-of-39 on extra point tries. He has not cleared the 83% mark on field goals since 2014.
Rob Ninkovich Won’t Rule Out Return
Longtime Patriots defender Rob Ninkovich retired over the summer, but the itch to play football has returned as the fall draws near. Ninkovich isn’t ready to suit up just yet, but he won’t rule out a comeback either. 
“I’m not closing the door. I’m not going to close the door. Just in case, you know, if something happened,” Ninkovich said on CSNNE (video link).
It’s not hard to imagine the Patriots calling on Ninkovich in the event of an injury, particularly since the front seven has been thinned out by rookie Derek Rivers’ season-ending injury and the release of Kony Ealy. The addition of Cassius Marsh may help New England on special teams, but the pass rush is looking like a major weak spot for the defending champs.
Ninkovich began his career with the Saints and also spent time with the Dolphins, but he has said that he cannot picture himself playing for any other team besides the Patriots. If he steps on the gridiron again, it will almost certainly be for a ninth season with New England.
Ninkovich saw the first significant action of his career when he signed with the Patriots in 2009. Since 2010, he has posted at least four sacks per season as a versatile defensive end/linebacker, including three consecutive eight-sack seasons from 2012-14. All in all, Ninkovich piled up 423 tackles and 46 sacks during his tenure with the Patriots. He appeared in 17 playoff games, including 16 starts, and was a key member of two Super Bowl-winning teams.
Lions Work Out WR Moritz Boehringer
The Lions worked out wide receiver Moritz Boehringer on Wednesday, Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press tweets. The German wide receiver was released last week by the Vikings in advance of the 53-man deadline. 
Last year, Boehringer became the NFL’s first player to ever be drafted directly from Europe when Minnesota selected him in the fourth round. He was one of the year’s most polarizing talents as some scouts raved about his athleticism and others were adamant that he would not be able to hack it in the NFL. This year, the Vikings elected to keep 2017 fifth-round pick Rodney Adams and seventh-round pick Stacy Coley over the German import.
The Lions presently have five receivers on the 53-man roster in Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, T.J. Jones, Kenny Golladay, and Jared Abbrederis. They also have wide receivers Jace Billingsley and Noel Thomas on the practice squad plus Pittsburgh product Dontez Ford on the p-squad IR.
Sebastian Janikowski To Stay With Raiders
The longest-tenured Raider in franchise history is not going anywhere. Sebastian Janikowski has “resolved” his “contractual differences” with the team, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link) hears. 
Janikowski’s future with the Raiders seemed uncertain this week when the team asked him to take a pay cut and auditioned other kickers. When he was put up against younger competition, the 39-year-old was said to have struggled, thanks in part to back trouble.
We don’t know for certain, but it sounds like Janikowski agreed to a salary reduction in order to keep his place with the team. The Raiders’ concerns about Janikowski’s performance may have merit, but it would have been terrible PR for the team to cut ties with him in the midst of its relocation to Las Vegas.
For his part, Janikowski says he would like to kick for the Raiders through their move to Las Vegas, which could be as late as the 2020 season. First, he’ll have to make it through the 2017 campaign.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/6/17
Today’s minor moves:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Claimed Off Waivers: DT Christian Ringo
Houston Texans
- Cut: CB Dee Virgin
New Orleans Saints
- Cut: OT Bryce Harris
New York Jets
- Cut: WR Damore’ea Stringfellow