Jets To Place Elijah Moore On IR
Elijah Moore‘s breakout second half of the season will be paused, and the Jets will be down another of their top skill-position contributors. Moore is headed to IR, Connor Hughes of The Athletic tweets.
The second-round rookie did not practice this week because of a quad injury, though the Jets had yet to rule him out. Moore will now be sidelined for at least three games, halting a quality stretch from the Ole Miss-developed wide receiver.
Moore has scored five touchdowns over his past five games and has played well despite the Jets using four quarterbacks during this span. The Jets now have Moore, Corey Davis and Michael Carter on IR.
After impressing in training camp, Moore started slowly as the Jets threw fellow rookie Zach Wilson into their lineup. However, the latest Rebels-groomed receiving talent began to flash once Mike White and Joe Flacco took the reins during Wilson’s injury hiatus. Moore scored twice in a blowout loss to the Colts, with Josh Johnson being the Jets’ primary passer that night, and caught eight passes for 141 yards and a touchdown in the Jets’ Flacco-quarterbacked loss to the Dolphins in Week 11. He and Wilson began to establish a rapport recently, with the BYU product finding him six times for 77 yards and a score in Week 13.
This will force the Jets to lean on Jamison Crowder. The veteran led the team in receiving in 2019 and 2020 but was given a pay cut earlier this year. Crowder came up in trade rumors as well, but the Jets’ upcoming shorthanded stretch could be a final springboard to another decent free agency payday.
Cowboys Activate Randy Gregory, Neville Gallimore From IR
The Cowboys will have their starting defensive ends in uniform together for the first time since Week 1. Dallas moved Randy Gregory back onto its active roster Saturday.
Both Gregory and defensive tackle starter Neville Gallimore are back from IR. Gregory missed time because of a calf injury, while Gallimore has seen a more severe injury shelve him for the entire season. The second-year defensive tackle has missed all of the 2021 slate due to a dislocated elbow.
Gallimore, a 2020 third-round pick who started nine games as a rookie, returned to practice last week. Gregory’s IR-return window opened ahead of Week 14. The Cowboys will have both in uniform when they face Washington on Sunday. They will team with DeMarcus Lawrence, who returned in Week 13 after having missed 10 games, on a suddenly healthy defensive front.
Gregory has missed time for both this calf ailment and a COVID-19 contraction this season, but he has avoided more off-field trouble. The former 2015 second-rounder has been quite productive in his seven games this season. The oft-unavailable pass rusher has five sacks and 12 QB hits, setting himself up potentially for a payday in 2022. Gregory is due for free agency in March. The Cowboys are not planning to finalize any deals with their 2022 UFAs until season’s end.
Dallas being able to deploy its preferred Lawrence-Gregory defensive end duo will allow rookie dynamo Micah Parsons to spend more time at linebacker. The Cowboys’ edge unavailability has forced Parsons to play up front extensively, though the Penn State product has thrived pretty much wherever he has lined up.
Titans To Activate WR Julio Jones From IR
Julio Jones will be in uniform for the Titans tomorrow when they take on the Jaguars. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter), the Titans plan to activate the veteran wide receiver off injured reserve. Jones returned to practice earlier this week.
A hamstring injury has limited Jones to just six games so far this season. Last month, the Titans moved to place him on IR, freeing up an additional roster spot for a few weeks. Jones missed time in previous seasons with a hamstring ailment, as well. Fortunately, Rapoport says Jones’ latest hamstring injury “has healed.”
Jones was limited to only nine games and 771 yards in 2020, but he was a 1,000-yard receiver as recently as 2019 (when he was a second-team All-Pro after finishing with 99 receptions for 1,394 yards and six touchdowns). So, the Titans were naturally expecting big things this past offseason when they acquired Jones (along with a sixth-round pick) from the Falcons for a second-round pick and a future fourth-round pick. However, in the veteran’s six games this season, he’s averaging only 56 receiving yards per game, a major dip from his previous career-low (73.8 yards during his rookie campaign in 2011).
Still, Jones will be welcomed back with open arms by a Titans offense that had to go without Jones, A.J. Brown, and Derrick Henry in their most recent loss to the Patriots.
Bears Promote LB Irvin, Move LB Marsh To IR
Bears’ linebacker Bruce Irvin has been activated to the active roster after Chicago signed him to their practice squad in mid-November. Irvin saw his first game action of the season last week as a temporary call-up in the Bears’ loss against Arizona.
The ten-year veteran has bounced around a bit since 2018 despite showing pretty consistent success throughout his career. There have only been two seasons in which Irvin failed to amass 5.5 sacks – 2013, when he missed the first four games of the season with a suspension, and 2020, when he suffered a torn ACL in Week 2. In his most recent full season, with the Carolina Panthers two years ago, Irvin tallied a career high 8.5 sacks. After his successful year in Carolina, the pass rusher signed up for a second stint with the Seahawks, who drafted him. He tore his ACL and remained on the sidelines until last week’s return to the field. Chicago will hope to see a return to form for Irvin as the team has missed the production of Khalil Mack opposite Robert Quinn. Mack has been on IR for the last three weeks after under-going foot surgery.
In a corresponding move, the Bears have placed Irvin’s former teammate from Seattle, Cassius Marsh, on injured reserve. Marsh was signed to the Bears practice squad about two weeks before Irvin’s arrival. In four games of action this season, Marsh had totaled 1.0 sack and 6 tackles.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/10/21
Here are Friday’s minor moves:
Denver Broncos
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Mike Boone, S P.J. Locke
Detroit Lions
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: S Tracy Walker, RB Jamaal Williams
Green Bay Packers
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LB De’Vondre Campbell
Kansas City Chiefs
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Joe Fortson
Miami Dolphins
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Myles Gaskin
New York Jets
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Jeff Smith
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted: CB Gavin Heslop
- Placed on IR: S Jamal Adams (story)
Washington Football Team
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Khaleke Hudson
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/10/21
Here are Friday’s practice squad moves:
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: WR Kenny Stills
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: DB Linden Stephens, WR Tyler Vaughns
- Released: P Drue Chrisman, LS Rex Sunahara
Buccaneers Activate Richard Sherman
FRIDAY: Sherman is set to make his return in Week 14. Two days after opening his IR-return window, the Bucs activated the 11th-year veteran cornerback. He has not played since Week 6, joining Davis and Murphy-Bunting in missing a sizable chunk of Tampa Bay’s season. All three are set to be in uniform when the defending champions face the Bills on Sunday.
WEDNESDAY: Richard Sherman‘s return is imminent. The Buccaneers designated the cornerback to return from IR today.
Sherman suffered a grade 2 calf sprain back in mid-November, leading to his placement on injured reserve. With today’s move, the Buccaneers will now have 21 days to activate the defensive back to their active roster.
Sherman joined the Buccaneers in late September, and he made his debut for Tampa Bay in Week 4. He started each of his three games for Tampa Bay, collecting 11 tackles and one fumble recovery. The 33-year-old suffered a hamstring injury during Week 6, and he was expected to return to the field for Tampa’s Week 10 game against Washington. However, the veteran suffered an injury prior to the game, sidelining him for an extra few weeks.
The Buccaneers have dealt with their fair share of cornerbacks injuries this season. Starters Sean Murphy-Bunting and Carlton Davis were sidelined for months, but the duo have since returned to the lineup. With Sherman back, the team’s cornerbacks corps should be fully healthy. In fact, head coach Bruce Arians suggested that Sherman could end up playing some safety for the squad down the stretch.
“That’s the beauty of having Sherm here is he’s a veteran player who can play a lot of positions,” Arians said this week (via The Athletic). “We’re looking this week to see if that’s a fit for us.”
Browns To Sign Dustin Colquitt
The Browns have agreed to sign veteran punter Dustin Colquitt (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). Colquitt, cut by the Falcons earlier this week, will be eligible to play on Sunday against the Ravens.
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Colquitt, 39, is best known for his time in Kansas City. The Chiefs used a third-round pick on the punter back in in 2005 and he went on to play 15 seasons in KC. The second-generation NFL punter and older brother of Britton Colquitt, Dustin made the Pro Bowl in 2012 and 2016 and finished his first Chiefs stint in Super Bowl LIV.
The Tennessee product punted in five games with the Steelers and one game with the Jaguars in 2020. This year, he saw time in six games for the Falcons with an average of 47.7 yards per punt, the highest single season mark of his career.
The Browns’ Week 12 loss to the Ravens dropped them to 6-6 on the year. They’ll have a chance at redemption — and improving their playoff odds – when they welcome them to Cleveland this weekend.
Texans Signed Derek Rivers, Jonathan Owens To Multiyear Deals
The Texans recently signed a pair of practice squad players to their active roster, and according to Aaron Wilson, the two players both received multiyear deals. Both defensive end Derek Rivers and safety Jonathan Owens were signed to deals through the 2022 campaign.
Rivers was a third-round pick by the Patriots back in 2017, and he collected 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks in his three-plus seasons with the team (including a 2019 campaign that was lost due to injury). The defensive lineman was waived during the 2020 campaign, and after finishing that season with the Rams, he caught on with Texans in March. He’s spent most of the season on the practice squad, but he has collected five tackles in three games.
Per Wilson, Rivers’ deal includes a $1MM base salary for 2022, plus a $100K signing bonus, up to $100K in per-game roster bonuses, and a $50K workout bonus. The pseudo-two-year deal is ultimately worth $1.58MM.
Owens caught on with the Cardinals after going undrafted in the 2018 draft, but he’s otherwise spent his professional career with the Texans. The 26-year-old has spent time on and off Houston’s roster since 2019, but he’s gotten into one game with the organization. Per Wilson, Owens’ new deal is worth $1.175MM, including a $10K signing bonus, a $10K workout bonus, and a 2022 base salary of $895K.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/9/21
Here are Thursday’s practice squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: RB Tavien Feaster
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: OL Bobby Hart
- Released: CB Greg Stroman
Detroit Lions
- Signed: T Darrin Paulo
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed: WR J.J. Koski
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DT Malcolm Roach
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: S Jarrod Wilson
- Released: DL Corbin Kaufusi