Danny Trevathan’s Suspension Reduced
The NFL has reduced Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan‘s two-game suspension to one game following appeal, the league announced today.
Trevathan leveled Packers wide receiver Davante Adams with a brutal hit during last week’s Thursday Night Football, and while he wasn’t ejected from the game, Trevathan was handed a 15-yard personal foul. Adams, thankfully, escaped with only a concussion after being taken to the hospital.
The league originally suspended Trevathan two games after determining that the Bear’s backer exuded “excessive” force while tackling Adams, as Trevathan hit Adams in the helmet when the wideout’s progress had already been stopped. Appeals officer — and former NFL linebacker Derrick Brooks — heard Trevathan’s case, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
As a result of today’s ruling, Trevathan will now be absent for Chicago’s Week 5 contest against the division-rival Vikings.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/2/17
Today’s minor moves..
Main Roster
Chicago Bears
- Promoted to active roster: WR Tre McBride
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed off Rams‘ practice squad: DE Quinton Jefferson
Practice Squad
Chicago Bears
- Signed: LB Jason Thompson
Bears To Start QB Mitch Trubisky
The Bears will start rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky over veteran Mike Glennon in Week 5, according to Adam Schefter and Dan Graziano of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Signed to a three-year, $45MM deal during the offseason, Glennon has done nothing to prove that he’s a capable NFL starter through four weeks. Chicago has gone 1-3 in his four starts, and Glennon ranks 25th in touchdown percentage, 28th in interception percentage, 29th in adjusted net yards per attempt, and 29th in quarterback rating. The 27-year-old Glennon will now be relegated to backup duty while Mark Sanchez presumably will stick at No. 3 on the depth chart.
The Bears paid a hefty price to acquire Trubisky in the 2017 draft, as they shipped the two third-round picks and a fourth-rounder to the 49ers for the right to move up from No. 3 to No. 2 overall. The North Carolina product was strong during the preseason, but Chicago still went with Glennon at the season’s outset. But Glennon’s performance, the Bears’ team record, and — speculatively — head coach John Fox‘s job status have now led to Trubisky moving under center.
Trubisky won’t face an easy test in his first NFL start, as he’ll go up against the division rival Vikings (although he’ll have the benefit of a home game). While Minnesota’s defensive unit hasn’t played well statistically, head coach Mike Zimmer fields a strong pass rush and a top-notch secondary that could fluster a rookie signal-caller. Luckily for the Bears, they’ll have a 11-day layoff between games, so Trubisky should have time to get first-team reps in advance of Week 5.
Glennon, for his part, can easily be released after the 2017 season, as Chicago would only incur $4.5MM in dead money by cutting him (versus $11.5MM in cap savings). The Bears could potentially look to trade Glennon, although it’s difficult to see any club offering anything of value — or even being willing to take on his few remaining guarantees — given his production this year. Glennon has an offset on his $2.5MM guarantee in 2018, tweets Mike Garafolo of NFL.com, so the Bears could hypothetically get out from under that total.
Danny Trevathan Suspended Two Games
The NFL’s review of Danny Trevathan‘s violent hit on Davante Adams resulted in the league suspending the Bears linebacker for two games.
Trevathan was penalized for the hit on Adams, one that sent the Packers wide receiver to the hospital, and he will miss time because of it. This is Trevathan’s first NFL suspension.
The sixth-year linebacker will have a chance to appeal, with the Bears’ next game not coming until next Sunday, and ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano tweets an appeal will be expected within three days. Either Derrick Brooks or James Thrash will hear Trevathan’s appeal, which the linebacker will do, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Thrash reduced Vontaze Burfict‘s suspension from five games to three, leading to the Bengals linebacker being set to debut Sunday.
NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan made the call to suspend Trevathan because of the “excessive” nature of the hit, a helmet-to-helmet blow that came after Adams’ progress was stopped as two other Bears were in on the tackle.
Should an appeal be denied, the 27-year-old inside ‘backer won’t be able to return to the Bears until Monday, Oct. 16. This suspension will leave the Bears without either of their preferred starting inside linebackers, with Jerrell Freeman already on IR. A third linebacker, Nick Kwiatkoski, also suffered an injury early this season, continuing Chicago’s health woes thus far in 2017.
Trevathan, who signed with the Bears last year after starting for John Fox in Denver as well, missed extensive time this offseason with a knee injury. He missed seven games during his first season with the Bears.
Bears Place DB Quintin Demps On IR
The Bears have placed safety Quintin Demps on injured reserve after he suffered a broken arm in Week 3, the club announced today.
Demps is certainly a candidate to return from IR later this season, but that will first entail a minimum eight-week absence. As such, the earliest Chicago will see Demps in action again is Week 13 against the 49ers. While that’s not ideal, the Bears likely didn’t want to carry an unplayable Demps on their roster while he recovers. Chicago already have seven other players on IR, and while some of them — such as linebacker Jerrell Freeman — could potentially return in 2017, others (like wide receiver Cameron Meredith) have already been ruled out for the year.
Third-year pro Adrian Amos will be asked to step in at safety in the absence of Amos, and he offers plenty of experience. A fifth-round pick in 2015, Amos started 30 games over his first two seasons in the NFL, and graded as the league’s No. 26 safety last year, per Pro Football Focus. Amos will now start next to rookie defensive back Eddie Jackson, while Deon Bush and DeAndre Houston-Carson will serve as Chicago’s backups at safety.
Demps, 32, inked a three-year, $13.5MM deal that included $4.5MM in the spring after spending the past two seasons with the Texans. Through an admittedly small sample of only two-plus games, PFF had ranked Demps as just the 70th-best safety among 82 qualifiers.
Bears Notes: Trevathan, Glennon, Trubisky
Packers wideout Davante Adams was taken to the hospital on Thursday night following a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit from Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan, but “everything is progressing well” for Adams, according to head coach Mike McCarthy. “He’s already giving them a hard time at the hospital to get out of there so that’s a great sign,” McCarthy said, per Curtis Crabrtee of Pro Football Talk. Adams suffered a concussion but his MRI is “clean,” per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Trevathan, meanwhile, earned a 15-yard personal foul for the hit but wasn’t ejected from last night’s game. The play is under review by the NFL, however, and Trevathan could be subject to a suspension, tweets Rapoport.
- Bears quarterback Mike Glennon struggled on Thursday, tossing one touchdown against two interceptions while losing two fumbles, but head coach John Fox didn’t immediately commit to making a change under center, as Crabtree writes in a separate piece. “We need to make a lot of changes,” Fox said. “We’ll evaluate everything. We’ve got a lot of work to do before we line up against Minnesota Monday night and we’re going to look at everything.” Chicago, of course, signed Glennon to a three-year, $45MM contract this offseason that contains $18.5MM guaranteed, but also moved up to the No. 2 overall pick to select UNC’s Mitch Trubisky. The Bears have an extended break before facing the Vikings on October 9.
Biggs: Bears' QB Plan Not Based On Glennon
- The Bears‘ Tarik Cohen pursuit began when Ryan Pace‘s top southeastern scout declared the then-North Carolina A&T running back was his favorite player to watch, over all of the SEC prospects he observed, and the Chicago GM soon became enamored as well, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (video link). The Bears selected several small-school talents this year, with second-round tight end Adam Shaheen being the first, but Cohen — a fourth-rounder — has played an impact role from the start.
- While Cohen will receive his first chance to display the elusiveness that enticed the Bears to a national audience, the Packers will be down several key players. Both starting tackles — David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga — are out, and Mike Daniels will miss the Week 4 tilt as well. The Packers are already down would-be backup options in Don Barclay, Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy — each on IR — so Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets a four-guard lineup could be on tap. Justin McCray, who started at tackle for Bakhtiari in Week 2, and fellow rookie Adam Pankey join second-year player Lucas Patrick in the mix to protect Aaron Rodgers on Thursday. Each of those players entered the league as a UDFA. The Packers played without both starting tackles against the Falcons, with Murphy and McCray receiving the replacement starts.
- The Bears aren’t judging Mike Glennon in their impending quarterback swap but rather are monitoring Mitch Trubisky to determine when the rookie will be ready to take over, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes. Glennon has struggled during his first three starts, and Biggs categorizes the season’s plan — once based around Trubisky redshirting as a rookie — as a week-to-week arrangement.
- Ka’Deem Carey‘s Bears injury settlement was worth $273,529, Biggs reports. The Bears placed the backup running back on IR just before the season, and the settlement came shortly after.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/26/17
Today’s practice squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: TE Anthony Denham, LB Earl Okine
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: WR Reggie Davis
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR Jamaal Jones
Chicago Bears
- Signed: WR Tre McBride, CB Doran Grant
- Cut: OL D.J. Tialavea
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: WR Bug Howard
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: LB Tre’von Johnson
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: TE Marcus Lucas, G Ian Silberman
- Cut: OLB Johnathan Calvin, TE Henry Krieger-Coble, T Andrew Wylie
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DB Arthur Maulet
New York Jets
- Signed: CB Robert Nelson
- Cut: WR Kalif Raymond
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: DE Branden Jackson
- Cut: DB Tyvis Powell, TE Gabe Holmes
NFL Waiver Priority Now Based On 2017 Record
We’re coming up on Week 4 of the NFL season and that means that waiver claim priority will be based on the current league standings instead of last year’s. Of course, waiver priority is based on the inverted NFL standings, which have built in tiebreakers to sort out the many logjams that naturally occur.
Throughout the offseason and the first three weeks of the regular season, the Browns enjoyed top priority thanks to their 1-15 finish last year. Now, we have a brand new pecking order. Here is a full rundown of the current waiver claim priority, which will change from week to week (Twitter links via Field Yates of ESPN.com):
T-1. Bengals
T-1. Browns
T-1. 49ers
4. Giants
5. Chargers
6. Colts
T-7. Texans
T-7. Seahawks
9. Cardinals
10. Jets
11. Saints
12. Bears
13. Dolphins
14. Buccaneers
15. Ravens
T-16. Panthers
T-16. Cowboys
T-16. Rams
T-16. Steelers
T-20. Broncos
T-20. Lions
T-20. Packers
23. Vikings
T-24. Bills
T-24. Jaguars
T-24. Patriots
T-24. Raiders
T-24. Eagles
T-24. Titans
30. Redskins
31. Chiefs
32. Falcons
Bears DB Quintin Demps Has Broken Arm
Bears safety Quintin Demps suffered a broken arm in Sunday’s win against the Steelers and will be sidelined indefinitely, Chicago announced today. Head coach John Fox indicated the club is still deciding whether to place Demps on injured reserve.
“The good news is we’ve got guys that have been with us [to replace Demps],” Fox said. “There are guys that are familiar with what we’re doing. That was the advantage of some of the injuries and play time we got a year ago. We feel good about guys stepping in. Obviously we don’t want to see anybody get hurt or injured, but those other guys are worthy.”
Third-year pro Adrian Amos will be asked to step in at safety in the absence of Amos, and as Fox alludes to, Amos offers plenty of experience. A fifth-round pick in 2015, Amos started 30 games over his first two seasons in the NFL, and graded as the league’s No. 26 safety last year, per Pro Football Focus. Amos will now start next to rookie defensive back Eddie Jackson, while Deon Bush and DeAndre Houston-Carson will serve as Chicago’s backups at safety.
If the Bears do placed Demps on injured reserve, he’d be forced to miss at least eight games before returning, meaning he wouldn’t be available until nearly December. While that’s not ideal, Chicago likely doesn’t want to carry an unplayable Demps on its roster for the month-plus it will take him to recover.
Demps, 32, inked a three-year, $13.5MM deal that included $4.5MM in the spring after spending the past two seasons with the Texans. Through an admittedly small sample of only two-plus games, PFF had ranked Demps as just the 70th-best safety among 82 qualifiers.