The Titans will have to play without one of their key pass rushers the rest of the way. They placed Cameron Wake on IR Tuesday. Wake signed with the Titans this offseason, but an injury will shelve the 37-year-old standout.
Wake registered 2.5 sacks this season, but each of those came in the Titans’ Week 1 win over the Browns. He signed a three-year, $23MM deal with the Titans in March. The team has not disclosed the nature of the injury.
The former Dolphins sack artist has certainly not made the same kind of impact with the Titans, having made just four tackles this season. Still, those 2.5 sacks in Cleveland moved him past 100 for his career. Sitting on 100.5, Wake is tied for 31st all time. Although the four-time Pro Bowler has been used in a situational capacity, with second-year edge player Harold Landry serving as Tennessee’s top sack threat, Wake did play a season-high 37 snaps against Jacksonville.
This will also mark just the second time in Wake’s 11-year NFL career he will have missed more than two games in a season. Other than going on Miami’s IR list midway through the 2015 season, Wake has been one of the NFL’s most durable players.
Tennessee promoted outside linebacker Derick Roberson and cornerback Kareem Orr from its practice squad, while also placing defensive back Chris Milton on IR.
It’s a one-year, $1.75MM pact for Milton, who is a cornerback by trade. Milton played just 55 defensive snaps last season but was in on over 60% of Indianapolis’ special teams snaps.
The former UDFA out of Georgia Tech spent part of his 2016 rookie campaign on the practice squad before being promoted. He has now established himself as a worthy ST contributor and can still provide depth in the secondary if needed.
Here are today’s restricted free agent and exclusive-rights free agent tender decisions, with the list being updated throughout the day. All links go to Twitter unless otherwise noted:
The Colts placed Kendall Langfordon IR after the defensive end played this season with knee pain. Indianapolis promoted cornerback Christopher Milton from its practice squad to take Langford’s place on the roster.
Langford functioned as the Colts’ top defensive lineman last season after signing a free agent deal earlier that year but hasn’t been the same player in 2016. The 30-year-old 3-4 end underwent offseason arthroscopic knee surgery, and although he returned in time for the Colts’ opener and played in seven games, Langford struggled to find his form. The former Dolphins and Rams talent failed to register a sack in those seven games, this coming after he recorded a career-high seven in 2015.
Chuck Pagano announced the Colts were shutting Langford down in late October. He did not return to action, so that shutdown will be an extensive maneuver.
Langford started 16 games for Indianapolis last season after being benched by the Rams a year prior. He’s under contract through the 2018 season after signing a four-year, $22MM deal last March.
The former Dolphins third-round pick all seven of the games he played this season, bringing the ninth-year veteran’s start total to 113 in his career. Indianapolis will now turn to Hassan Ridgeway and Lavar Edwards to supplement starters Henry Anderson and Arthur Jones. Anderson is also dealing with an injury and is questionable for Week 11.
September 5th, 2016 at 9:20am CST by Dallas Robinson
Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four AFC South teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Texans, Colts, Jaguars, and Titans are noted below.
Additionally, as of 12:00pm CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.
Here are Sunday’s AFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day. All links go to Twitter unless otherwise noted:
September 3rd, 2016 at 2:00pm CST by Zachary Links
The Colts are cutting running back Stevan Ridley, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Ridley was signed by the Colts just days ago after he was cut by Detroit. The Colts have spoken at length about their plan to preserve Frank Gore‘s legs by lightening his workload and Ridley figured to be a part of that. Alas, the Colts didn’t see enough from Ridley in the last few days to keep him on the 53-man roster.
After spending his first four years in the NFL with the Patriots, Ridley signed with the Jets last season, but didn’t see the field all that much after coming off the PUP list. With Chris Ivoryand Bilal Powell handling the majority of the workload out of the backfield, Ridley took over for Zac Stacy as the No. 3 back and earned just 36 carries, totaling only 90 yards for a career-worst 2.5 yards per attempt. His stint with Indianapolis could represent his best opportunity to reestablish himself as a quality back.
Here’s the running list of the Colts’ cuts so far today (links via Mike Wells of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified):
The team has also placed offensive guard Hugh Thornton, cornerback Tevin Mitchel and linebacker Ron Thompson on the injured reserve, according to Holder and Alex Marvez of SiriusXM (Twitter link). The 25-year-old has started 32 of his 37 games through his three seasons in the league.