Bengals Sign DT Xavier Williams, Place D.J. Reader On IR
The Bengals are bolstering their banged up defensive line. The team has signed defensive tackle Xavier Williams and placed fellow defensive tackle D.J. Reader on injured reserve in a corresponding roster move, Cincy announced Monday.
As we wrote last night, the team believes Reader, one of their big free agent signings this offseason, will miss the rest of the year with a quad injury. Williams is a 2015 UDFA who spent his first few seasons with the Cardinals. After finally getting some real playing time with Arizona in 2017, he signed with the Chiefs as a restricted free agent the following year. He appeared in all 16 games with Kansas City in 2018, starting four while racking up 47 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
He missed most of last year with an ankle injury but was activated down the stretch, and ended up playing a sizable role on defense in the Chiefs’ first two playoff wins. After earning his ring he signed with the Patriots back in August, but was cut two weeks ago after appearing in only one game with New England.
Fellow interior defensive lineman Mike Daniels is on injured reserve as well, leaving the Bengals without the stout run-stuffing trio they envisioned. Fortunately, All-Pro Geno Atkins made his 2020 debut this past week and should begin to ramp up his snaps.
2021 NFL Draft Order
With most of Week 5 in the books, we bring you a way-too-early look at the current order for the 2021 NFL draft. For non-playoff teams, the draft order will be determined by the inverted 2020 standings, plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule. After that, the same goes for the six clubs eliminated from each round of the postseason, with the final two picks determined by the outcome of the Super Bowl.
Here’s where things stand in the race to the bottom:
- New York Giants (0-5)
- Atlanta Falcons (0-5)
- New York Jets (0-5)
- Washington Football Team (1-4)
- Minnesota Vikings (1-4)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4)
- Miami Dolphins (via Houston Texans, 1-4)
- Los Angeles Chargers (1-3)
- Detroit Lions (1-3)
- Denver Broncos (1-3)
- Philadelphia Eagles (1-3-1)
- Cincinnati Bengals (1-3-1)
- Miami Dolphins (2-3)
- San Francisco 49ers (2-3)
- New Orleans Saints (2-2)
- New England Patriots (2-2)
- Arizona Cardinals (3-2)
- Indianapolis Colts (3-2)
- Dallas Cowboys (2-3)
- Carolina Panthers (3-2)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2)
- Las Vegas Raiders (3-2)
- Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)
- Cleveland Browns (4-1)
- Chicago Bears (4-1)
- Baltimore Ravens (4-1)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (via Los Angeles Rams, 4-1)
- Tennessee Titans (3-0)
- Green Bay Packers (4-0)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (4-0)
- Buffalo Bills (4-0)
- New York Jets (via Seattle Seahawks, 4-0)
Bengals Believe DT D.J. Reader Done For The Year
On the heels of their first win of the season the Bengals got crushed 27-3 by the Ravens, and the bad news doesn’t end there. The team believes defensive tackle D.J. Reader will miss the rest of the season with a quad injury, sources told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link).
It’s a brutal blow for a defense that has already been struggling mightily. One of the Bengals’ big offseason acquisitions, Reader signed a four-year, $53MM contract back in March. He had to be carted out of the team’s opener against the Chargers, but that turned out to be minor and he returned the following week. This time he wasn’t as lucky after getting carted off.
Fortunately for Cincy fellow defensive tackle Geno Atkins, an All-Pro, returned for his first action of the season against Baltimore. The Bengals have been getting gashed on the ground, and it looks like they won’t ever really get to see the Reader/Atkins combo they envisioned for 2020.
A fifth-round pick of the Texans back in 2016, Reader quickly broke out in Houston. He became a full-time starter in his second season, and started at least 14 games each of the past four years. Still only 26, Reader should be a big part of Cincinnati’s defense next year.
COVID-19 Notes: Bubble, Tiebreakers, Bengals
The Titans and Patriots are once again in limbo as a result of a new positive test for a Titans staffer and for Patriots DT Byron Cowart. Meanwhile, the Broncos will have their bye this week since their game against New England has been pushed to next Sunday, but because Denver practiced all this week in preparation for a game, it has effectively lost the benefit of a bye.
As the NFL tries to push through the season, let’s take a look at a few COVID-related items:
- Luckily, aside from the positive tests mentioned above, there were no other new positives this morning, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter).
- Nonetheless, pundits around the league seem convinced that the NFL will be forced to insert a Week 18 for rescheduled games. The Broncos–Dolphins contest originally slated for next week will need to be rescheduled since the Broncos will now be taking on the Patriots at that time, so Denver-Miami could be the first game set for a Week 18 matchup.
- There is also the possibility, of course, that some games will just need to be cancelled. If that happens, the league would need to use winning percentage as a tiebreaker, as Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv reminds us (Twitter link). That’s hardly ideal, but it may be a reality.
- In the event of a cancelled game, players would lose game checks. Although the union is not yet amenable to a home-market bubble for the remainder of the season, it may change its tune if players starting losing money, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes.
- During the NFL’s mandatory conference call with players, coaches, and GMs last week, the Bengals reportedly drew the ire of the league, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes. The call included data that showed which teams were doing the best job in terms of social distancing and contact tracing, and Cincinnati was at the bottom of the heap. Luckily, the Bengals have avoided any major COVID-19 scares thus far.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/10/20
Here is the latest barrage of Saturday minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted: TE Evan Baylis, S Curtis Riley
Atlanta Falcons
- Promoted: DB Tyler Hall, LB Edmond Robinson
Chicago Bears
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: T Badara Traore
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted: DT Kahlil McKenzie, CB Torry McTyer
Cleveland Browns
- Promoted: DT Joey Ivie, DE Cameron Malveaux
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: T Jake Rodgers
- Placed on IR: RB LeVante Bellamy
Houston Texans
- Promoted: LB Nate Hall, S Jonathan Owens
Indianapolis Colts
- Promoted: G Jake Eldrenkamp, WR Marcus Johnson
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Promoted: DL Caraun Reid, LB Quincy Williams, S Jarrod Wilson
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: DE Datone Jones, DE Chris Smith
Los Angeles Rams
- Waived: DT Eric Banks
Miami Dolphins
- Promoted: DE Tyshun Render
Minnesota Vikings
- Waived: DE Eddie Yarbrough
Philadelphia Eagles
- Activated from IR: CB Craig James, WR Quez Watkins
- Promoted: DB Grayland Arnold, TE Jason Croom, DB Elijah Riley
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: FB Trey Edmunds
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: CB Brian Allen, CB Jamar Taylor, WR Kevin White
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted: S Damarious Randall
Tennessee Titans
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Greg Mabin
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: TE Temarrick Hemingway
NFL Workout Updates: 10/6/20
Workout updates stand to be sparser going forward, with Mike Garafolo of NFL.com noting the NFL has moved to, in light of some teams’ recent issues with the coronavirus, cap workouts at five per week (Twitter link). However, the rule will not apply to teams that place more than three players on IR in a week, Garafolo tweets. In those scenarios, teams would be permitted to work out 10 players in a week. That said, here are the top developments from the workout circuit, as of Tuesday evening.
Atlanta Falcons
- LB James Burgess, S J.J. Wilcox (visit)
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
- DT Xavier Williams (visit)
Cleveland Browns
Houston Texans
- LB Deone Bucannon, LB Emmanuel Ellerbee, DB Roderic Teamer
Indianapolis Colts
- LB Najee Goode (visit), DB Akeem King, DB Jaylen Watkins, LB Ramik Wilson
New Orleans Saints
Seattle Seahawks
- LB Ray-Ray Armstrong, DE/LB Jeff Holland
Tennessee Titans
- LS Colin Holba, LS Matt Overton
Bengals Place DT Mike Daniels On IR
The Bengals will be further depleted at defensive tackle when they face the Jaguars on Sunday. They placed Mike Daniels on IR on Saturday.
Daniels, who signed with the Bengals this summer, suffered an elbow injury — one he aggravated during practice this week. Daniels managed a limited practice Thursday but was held out Friday. He will be down for at least three weeks now.
Cincinnati has been without perennial Pro Bowler Geno Atkins all season. Atkins took part in three limited workouts this week but has already been declared out for Week 4. The practice participation points to Atkins getting closer, having not been placed on IR despite what will be a four-week absence.
The team has fellow 2020 acquisitions D.J. Reader and Christian Covington healthy at defensive tackle. Daniels, however, had started both games in which he played this season.
To add help up front, the Bengals are promoting defensive tackle Freedom Akinmoladun. They will also elevate cornerback offensive lineman Alex Redmond and cornerback Torry McTyer from the practice squad.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/30/20
Today’s practice squad moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: S T.J. Green
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: S Marcus Gilchrist
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: G Deion Calhoun, LB Kendall Donnerson
- Released: OT Josh Knipfel
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: WR Krishawn Hogan
- Released: QB Chad Kelly
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Chad Williams
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: LB B.J. Bello
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: S Damarious Randall, LB Tim Williams
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: WR Malik Henry
- Placed on PS-IR: Lil’Jordan Humphrey
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/29/20
Here are the Tuesday practice squad decisions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: DE Austin Edwards
- Released: LB Deone Bucannon, CB D.J. White
Chicago Bears
- Signed: DL Terry Beckner, LB Sharif Finch
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: G Shaq Calhoun
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: T Jordan Mills
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DL Joe Graziano
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: C Will Clapp
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: RB D’Onta Foreman, S Maurice Smith
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/28/20
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Activated off suspension list: DB Jordan Miller
Baltimore Ravens
- Placed on IR: CB Tavon Young (story)
- Promoted: CB Terrell Bonds, CB Khalil Dorsey, S Jordan Richards
Cleveland Browns
- Waived: LB Montrel Meander
- Placed on IR: WR JoJo Natson
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted: OL Keaton Sutherland
- Waived: OL Shaq Calhoun
Denver Broncos
- Placed on IR: LB Austin Calitro
Houston Texans
- Placed on IR: S A.J. Moore (story)
- Promoted: RB C.J. Prosise