Broncos Notes: Manning, Osweiler
The latest on the Broncos’ quarterbacks:
- Peyton Manning – out since mid-November with a foot injury – will return to action this week as Brock Osweiler‘s backup “if everything goes well,” head coach Gary Kubiak said (Twitter link via Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post). Asked whether Manning could eventually take back the starting job from Osweiler, Kubiak stated, “I don’t want to go that far. Brock is our QB, and nothing has changed,” the NFL Network’s James Palmer tweeted. Added Manning (Twitter link via The Denver Post’s Troy Renck), “I will do what I can to help Brock and the team.”
- If Manning returns for his age-40 season in 2016, Renck expects him to be in another uniform because the writer believes Denver and Osweiler will agree to a multiyear contract in the coming months. Osweiler – a free agent-to-be – wants to remain a Bronco, and the team has been impressed by his progress, according to Renck. Osweiler, whom the Broncos drafted in the second round in 2012, has appeared in seven games this year and tossed nine touchdowns against four interceptions. As a result, he could ask for a deal in the range of $12MM to $15MM per annum, Renck notes.
- Regarding last weekend’s release of an Al Jazeera investigative documentary that accused Manning of taking performance-enhancing drugs in the past, he said (Twitter link via Jhabvala), “The report wasn’t true Sunday. Still isn’t true. Will never be true. I’m still angry about it.” Manning added that he welcomes a league investigation into the report, preferably soon, Lindsay H. Jones of USA Today tweeted. He won’t pursue legal action now, but it’s a possibility after the season (Twitter link via Palmer).
More Minor NFL Transactions: 12/29/15
Tuesdays are generally the busiest day of the week during the NFL regular season for transactions, and on the last Tuesday of the 2015 campaign, that’s especially true. After rounding up several minor moves from around the league earlier today, we’ve got plenty more to pass along now. Here’s the latest:
AFC:
- After re-signing him three weeks ago, the Chargers confirmed today that they have released wide receiver Vincent Brown. The 26-year-old was active for just one game and caught only one pass, for 22 yards.
- The Ravens have placed wide receiver Marlon Brown on season-ending injured reserve due to a back injury, replacing him on the roster with defensive back Sheldon Price, the team announced today (via Twitter). Brown, the 20th player Baltimore has placed on IR this year, is eligible for restricted free agency, and he may not be tendered a contract this winter, tweets Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun.
- The Broncos have cut safety Shaun Prater, who was inactive on Monday, the team announced in a press release. Prater was signed as insurance after David Bruton was placed on IR, but with T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart back in action, his services weren’t required.
- The Patriots have filled their roster by signing linebacker and special-teamer Dekoda Watson, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It’s the third contract signed with New England this year by Watson, who has been off and on the Pats’ roster.
- The Texans have officially confirmed the previously-reported transaction that sent cornerback Charles James to IR, elevating safety Corey Moore to the active roster from the practice squad to replace James, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
- The Raiders have signed safety Dewey McDonald from off their practice squad, according to the team. McDonald has also spent time with the Colts and Patriots this season.
NFC:
- The Buccaneers are ending Major Wright‘s season, placing the safety on injured reserve prior to Week 17, tweets Rand Getlin of NFL Network. In a corresponding move, Tampa Bay is elevating tight end Tevin Westbrook from its practice squad to the 53-man roster, according to agent Brett Tessler (Twitter link).
- Washington has made a change at the back of its 53-man roster, announcing that tight end Je’Ron Hamm has been waived to make room for cornerback Jeremy Harris, who received a promotion from the practice squad.
- The Lions have once again waived cornerback Bill Bentley, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Bentley, a third-round pick by Detroit in 2012, was cut by the team in the summer before re-signing last month.
- The Saints are promoting tight end Rashaun Allen to their 53-man roster from the practice squad, tweets Aaron Wilson. As Evan Woodbery of the Times-Picayune (Twitter link) observes, a corresponding move will be required to make the signing official, which could mean moving tight end Josh Hill to IR.
- Wilson also passes along details on a couple players who have been cut from their respective teams’ injured reserve lists, reporting (via Twitter) that the Cardinals have cut defensive back Cariel Brooks with an injury settlement, while the Packers have released defensive end Jermauria Rasco from their IR.
HGH Allegation Notes: 12/28/15
Speaking over the phone to Peter King of TheMMQB.com on Sunday, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning once again strongly denied allegations connecting him to HGH, which surfaced in an Al Jazeera documentary.
“I can promise you this is a total fabrication,” Manning said. “I simply do not understand how somebody makes up something like this and it becomes a story. And then the guy (Charles Sly) admits he made it up and it’s still a story. How exactly does that work?”
As King and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk both detail, one primary point of contention between Al Jazeera and Manning’s camp is the timeline for when Sly was employed at Indianapolis’s Guyer Institute, which allegedly sent HGH to Manning’s wife. Founder Dale Guyer insists that Sly was never an employee, and only served as an intern in 2013, well after Manning was treated at the facility. However, reporter Deborah Davies is adamant that a transcript of a phone conversation she had with the clinic reveals that Sly began working there in October 2011.
The uncertainty surrounding Sly’s time at the Guyer Institute isn’t the only item related to the report that’s worth passing along today. Here are a few more:
- As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, the NFL had no real jurisdiction over players during the four-month lockout in 2011, and didn’t even didn’t test for HGH until September 2014. As such, even if Manning or other players did use certain PEDs, they may not have violated any league policies.
- In a separate piece at Pro Football Talk, Florio wonders if Manning shouldn’t have simply gone the “no comment” route when these allegations surfaced, rather than extending the news cycle with his repeated, forceful denials. Florio also points out that Manning may not want to sue over the Al Jazeera report – as the quarterback suggested on Sunday that he might – since that process would mean making his private life public. For his part, Steelers linebacker James Harrison – who was also named in the report – said he looked into pursuing legal action, but decided it wouldn’t be worth it monetarily, tweets Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
- Mike Klis of 9News (Twitter links) points out that Manning made his visits to the Guyer Institute accompanied by Colts medical people, making it unlikely that the alternative treatment he received there violated any laws or NFL policies.
- According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link), the NFL is getting pressured to take these allegations seriously and devote resources to investigating them. After all, the NFL dedicated significant time and energy to the Deflategate allegations, treating them with at least as much weight as PED allegations, so the league will face scrutiny if it doesn’t do the necessary legwork to look into the latest accusations.
Latest On Peyton Manning, HGH Allegations
6:56pm: The quarterback told Peter King of TheMMQB.com he will probably sue over these allegations, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk relays. Manning cited anger over this account as the reasoning behind potential litigation, but Florio argues such a course of action would further open up the guarded signal-caller’s private life to scrutiny. In Florio’s mind, the 18-year veteran’s staunch denials intensified the degree the to which American media covered this matter. Such a lawsuit would keep this story going in future news cycles, Florio writes, instead of allowing it to run its course.
11:55am: Manning just completed an interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters, and several prominent journalists have indicated (via Twitter) that they have never seen Manning so angry. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk provides some of the choicest quotes from that interview, in which Manning said he was “angry, furious, [and] disgusted.” Manning added, “[I’m] [s]ickened by it. I’m not sure I understand how someone can make something up about somebody, admit that he made it up, and yet somehow it’s published in a story. I don’t understand that.”
Thus far, the NFL has declined to comment on the documentary, although Barry Svrluga, Mark Maske, and Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post report that the league will investigate all players named in the documentary. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports confirms that report (via Twitter), although La Canfora adds that the fact that Sly has already recanted his story “has not gone unnoticed at the league office” (Twitter link). Per ESPN.com news services, Sly said, “When I was [working at The Guyer Institute], I had never seen the Mannings ever. They were not even living there at that time. Someone who worked there said they had been there before. That was the extent of any knowledge I had. I feel badly. I never saw any files. This is just amazing that it reached this point.”
In the Salters interview, Manning describes the procedures he underwent at The Guyer Institute and says everything was done with the authorization and under the supervision of the Colts’ medical staff. Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post provides more details via Twitter.
10:48am: Within the documentary, pharmacy intern Charlie Sly goes into great detail about his interactions with Manning.
“He’s really cool if you just sit down with him. The first time I met him was at [Dr. Dale Guyer’s office]. He sounded real genuine. He’s like, ‘I really appreciate you guys working with me.’ He sounded real genuine,” Sly said.
Sly also claims that the prescriptions for performance enhancing drugs were actually written out in the name of Peyton’s wife, Ashley.
“Him and his wife would come in after hours and get IVs and [expletive]. One thing that Guyer does is that he dispenses drugs out of his office which physicians can do in the United States, just not that many of them do it. And, all the time, we would be sending Ashley Manning drugs. Like growth hormone, all the time, everywhere…Florida. And it would never be under Peyton’s name, it would always be under her name. We were sending it everywhere.”
Sly also made damning accusations regarding Packers defensive stars Mike Neal, Julius Peppers, and Clay Matthews. The former Guyer Institute employee claimed that Neal started out as a client before getting a great number of his teammates on board.
“Last year I went out to Green Bay for like six weeks. I set Mike’s stuff but then, like, he started bringing everybody..I’m not even joking, more than half the team started to come by,” said Sly, who went on to name Julius Peppers as one of the clients that came to him through Neal. “So, I would do everything, usually at Mike Neal’s house or at Julius’ house.”
The pharmacist said that Peppers takes Delta-2, a substance mentioned frequently throughout the documentary, but “not that often” and maybe as infrequently as “two days a week.” Sly estimated that he has probably talked to about 25 Packers players and “directed like ten of them, twelve of them.” When it came to Delta-2, Sly said that he only pointed them in the right direction to acquire it rather than actually supply those players with it.
While Sly and Collins are chatting, the pharmacist tells Collins that he had just received a text from Matthews asking him for an oral form of Torodol, a powerful anti-inflammatory. Sly also indicates that Matthews has used Ipamorelin, a peptide, and said that he doesn’t believe that he takes HGH “anymore.” He says that Matthews was not among his clients taking Delta-2, however, because he didn’t want to “push the envelope” with Matthews since he is a “high-profile guy.”
9:52am: Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Peyton Manning has retained the services of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who now does crisis management work. Rapoport spoke with Fleischer last night, and he was told that Manning has never used HGH, has never failed any league drug tests, and that the Al Jazeera documentary that created a media firestorm yesterday would not affect Manning’s status with the league. Fleischer did say that Manning’s wife, Ashley Manning, was a patient at the anti-aging clinic referenced by the documentary and had a prescription from the clinic, though Fleischer would not say what the prescription was for (Twitter links).
The Broncos, for their part, have stood behind their quarterback, and have released the following statement via the team’s official website:
“Knowing Peyton Manning and everything he stands for, the Denver Broncos support him 100 percent. These are false claims made to Al Jazeera, and we don’t believe the report.
“Peyton is rightfully outraged by the allegations, which he emphatically denied to our organization and which have been publicly renounced by the source who initially provided them.
“Throughout his NFL career, particularly during his four seasons with the Broncos, Peyton has shown nothing but respect for the game. Our organization is confident Peyton does things the right way, and we do not find this story to be credible.”
Rory Parks contributed to this post.
NFL To Investigate Manning, Others Accused Of PED Use
The NFL plans to investigate Peyton Manning, Julius Peppers, and other players accused of taking PEDs in a recent Al Jazeera report, a source tells Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). It’s the standard operating procedure for the league to follow up on any such lead and/or tip in a matter such as this, per Cole, but the NFL has no official comment on the situation at this time.
A past history of failed drug tests will play a role in the investigation, reports Cole. While that won’t affect Manning (who hasn’t failed a test in his 18-year career), Peppers and fellow Packer Mike Neal have each served four-game bans in the past, so they could see additional scrutiny as the league looks closer into the report. Peppers was suspended way back in 2002 for taking a banned dietary supplement, while Neal was banned in 2012 for using Adderall.
Meanwhile, the Colts have issued a statement on the matter (specifically relating to the charges against Manning), calling the report “utterly ridiculous” while lauding Manning’s lengthy history of excellent work ethic and integrity (link via Pro Football Talk).
Documentary Links Peyton Manning, Other NFLers To PEDs
9:50pm: Manning has issued a strongly worded denial through the Broncos (Twitter link via Albert Breer of NFL.com):
“The allegation that I would do something like that is complete garbage and is totally made up. It never happened. Never. I really can’t believe somebody would put something like this on the air. Whoever said this is making stuff up.”
9:04pm: In 2011, when Peyton Manning was recovering from a career-threatening neck injury, an Indianapolis anti-aging clinic supplied him and his wife with human growth hormone – which is on the NFL’s banned substances list – according to a pharmacist who worked at the clinic, Travis Waldron and Ryan Grim of The Huffington Post write.
Guyer Institute pharmacist Charlie Sly claims he was “part of a medical team that helped [Manning] recover.” Sly made that statement to Liam Collins, a British hurdler who went undercover for an Al Jazeera documentary, “The Dark Side,” centering on the global epidemic of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.
“All the time we would be sending Ashley Manning drugs,” says Sly on video, unaware that Collins was taping him. “Like growth hormone, all the time, everywhere, Florida. And it would never be under Peyton’s name, it would always be under her name.”
Sly also declares that Manning and his wife showed up at the clinic after normal business hours for intravenous treatments.
In response, Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, rejected Sly’s allegations to Al Jazeera and referred to them as “outrageous and wrong.”
“The treatment he received at the Guyer Institute was provided on the advice of his physician and with the knowledge of team doctors and trainers,” said Condon, who neither confirmed nor denied that growth hormones were sent to Manning’s wife.
“Any medical treatment received by Ashley is a private matter of hers, her doctor, and her family,” Condon said.
As noted by Waldron and Grim, the league banned HGH in 2011 but didn’t begin testing for it until 2014. No NFL player has ever tested positive for it.
In addition to Manning, Sly and fellow pharmacist Chad Robertson name Packers linebackers Mike Neal and Julius Peppers, Steelers LB James Harrison and ex-NFL tight end Dustin Keller as players they supplied with banned substances. Neal, Peppers, Harrison and Keller are all linked to hormone supplement Delta-2, which Sly says is designed to stay ahead of drug tests.
Further, Sly contends to have provided prescription painkiller Percocet to Packers LB Clay Matthews, whom Sly says also attempted to obtain Toradol – another painkiller. Toradol is banned in many countries, but not the United States.
Harrison issued a denial to Al Jazeera, while Neal, Peppers, Matthews and Keller didn’t respond to the network’s request for comment, per Waldron and Grim.
AFC Notes: Pagano, Manning, Jets
A look around the AFC:
- One of the reasons for the Colts’ offensive decline this season is head coach Chuck Pagano‘s mentality, a source told Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star. Pagano prefers a run-first, ball-control attack rather than a high-flying approach – a 180 in attitude for a team that led the NFL in passing yards in 2014. With Indianapolis having been without quarterback Andrew Luck for a large chunk of the year, it’s hard to fault Pagano for shying away from the passing game. However, his ground-and-pound method hasn’t worked, as Indy is tied for 30th in both rushing yards (1,211) and per-carry average (3.6). The Colts have also been dismal through the air, coming in at 31st in yards per attempt (6.4) and 29th in rating (77.6).
- Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak took in Peyton Manning‘s workout Saturday and subsequently offered some encouraging words on his injured quarterback. “It went really well,” Kubiak said, per Mike Klis of 9News. “He had a good week, worked really hard this morning. Well, he worked every morning, but worked out really hard this morning conditioning-wise and throwing-wise.” Manning, who hasn’t played since mid-November because of a partially torn plantar fascia in his left foot, will miss the Broncos’ key game Monday against Cincinnati. There’s a small chance he could be healthy enough to play in Denver’s regular-season finale on Jan. 3. Of course, even if the 39-year-old is ready to come back by then or during the playoffs, there’s no guarantee he’ll take the starting job back from Brock Osweiler.
- The Jets will have important decisions to make over the next couple offseasons regarding three members of their dominant defensive line. Both Muhammad Wilkerson and Damon Harrison are free agents at the end of the season, and Sheldon Richardson‘s contract is up after the 2016 campaign. Don’t be surprised if all three are Jets for at least one more year, ESPN’s Rich Cimini writes. Cimini expects Wilkerson to get the franchise tag, while he believes the team could lock up Harrison to a long-term deal worth roughly $4.5MM per annum. If the Jets enable Harrison to hit the open market, he’s likely to head elsewhere. Richardson has been mentioned in the past as a trade candidate, but the Jets are unlikely to move him because of his off-field legal issues. He could start next season suspended for as many as six games, which would significantly damage his trade value and deter the Jets from dealing him.
Workout Notes: Bills, Boykin, Little
Here are Wednesday’s workouts from around the NFL. All links go to the Twitter feed of The Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, unless noted otherwise:
- The Bills worked out wide receivers Jarrett Boykin and Greg Little (link).
- The Jets worked out tackle Cameron Bradfield, tackle Jesse Davis, tackle Sean Donnelly, guard Matthew Masifilo, defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy, and guard Craig Watts, Wilson tweets.
- The Falcons worked out linebacker Cameron Gordon, defensive back Chris Greenwood, guard Michael Huey, and defensive back Brandon McGee (link).
- The Eagles worked out defensive lineman Freddie Bishop, wide receiver Issac Blakeney, wide receiver Jeff Fuller, linebacker Cameron Gordon, offensive lineman Colin Kelly, wide receiver Eric Rogers, and defensive back Jordan Sullen (link).
- The Titans worked out defensive tackle Davon Walls (link).
- The Falcons tried out linebacker Mike Mohamed, linebacker James-Michael Johnson, and guard Shelley Smith (link).
- The Vikings worked out wide receivers Terrell Sinkfield and Eric Rogers (link).
- The Broncos tried out cornerback Chimdi Chekwa, linebacker Thomas Keiser, and linebacker Jonathan Massaquoi, Wilson tweets.
- The Browns worked out guard Jared Smith (link).
- The Browns worked out kickers Carey Spear and Zach Hocker (link).
- The Bears worked out punter Brock Miller (link).
- The Cardinals worked out defensive backs Dexter McCoil and Joel Wilkinson (link).
NFL Pro Bowlers In Contract Years
The NFL announced its Pro Bowlers for the 2015 season on Tuesday night, and while those rosters will certainly undergo some changes in the coming weeks – as players with injuries or on Super Bowl teams bow out and are replaced by alternates – it’s worth noting that several players in this initial crop are in contract years, and will be eligible for free agency this winter.
Currently, there are eight players in contract years among the Pro Bowlers, and not all of them are players you might expect. When we ranked the top free agents of 2016 earlier this month, we placed Bears wideout Alshon Jeffery second overall, but Jeffery didn’t get a Pro Bowl nod, partly due to the injuries that have slowed him down this season, and partly due to the star-studded group of receivers he was up against.
Similarly, our list of this offseason’s top 10 potential free agents included a pair of left tackles, Russell Okung of the Seahawks and Cordy Glenn of the Bills. However, given the strong group of left tackles that are locked up to long-term deals – including Tyron Smith (Cowboys), Jason Peters (Eagles), Joe Thomas (Browns), and others – neither Okung nor Glenn could crack the initial Pro Bowl roster.
Here are the eight potential free agents who earned Pro Bowl berths:
- Eric Berry, S (Chiefs)
- Doug Martin, RB (Buccaneers)
- Von Miller, OLB (Broncos)
- Reggie Nelson, S (Bengals)
- Josh Norman, CB (Panthers)
- Mike Tolbert, FB (Panthers)
- Muhammad Wilkerson, DL (Jets)
- Charles Woodson, S (Raiders)
Berry, Miller, Norman, and Wilkerson earned spots on our top-10 list, and each of those four standout players should be in line for either the franchise tag or a lucrative long-term contract. However, the extension cases for the other four players on this list aren’t quite to cut-and-dried.
Woodson, of course, has an expiring contract, but isn’t expected to sign another one, having announced earlier this week that he’ll retire after the season. That takes him out of the extension equation entirely.
Martin is having an excellent bounce-back season in Tampa Bay, and is the most logical candidate to receive the biggest free agent deal for a running back this offseason. As we saw last winter though, not many running backs sign massive free agent contracts, and 2015’s biggest deal – DeMarco Murray‘s – won’t exactly encourage teams to invest heavily at the position. So there’s a ceiling on how much Martin will earn this winter, despite his Pro Bowl berth.
Nelson and Tolbert are interesting cases. Nelson’s counting stats (an NFL-best eight interceptions) and Pro Football Focus grades (10th among safeties) suggest he’s had a very strong year, but he’ll also be entering his age-33 season, so it’s fair to question whether he’s deserving of a contract in the range of the ones that Berry and perhaps Eric Weddle will sign.
As for Tolbert, his Pro Bowl nod comes at one of the league’s least-valued positions, and he’s also now on the wrong side of 30, which is generally bad news for running backs. I expect he’ll draw interest from plenty of teams if the Panthers don’t lock him up, but as a 30-year-old fullback, his earning potential is limited.
One more player worth mentioning is Browns center Alex Mack. Technically, Mack still has three years remaining on his contract, but he’ll have the opportunity to opt out this winter, and coming off a Pro Bowl season, there’s a good chance he’ll take advantage of that option.
Ultimately, these eight players – plus Mack – aren’t likely to get a huge boost to their annual salaries on their next contracts simply because they made the Pro Bowl. In fact, Tuesday’s Pro Bowl announcement may very well have a more tangible impact on players with Pro Bowl bonuses in their current contracts.
Still, you can bet that the representatives for these potential free agents will be sure to point to this year’s Pro Bowl roster to help make their case that their clients are among the best players in the NFL at their respective positions.
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/22/15
Tuesdays are typically busy days for roster changes during the NFL regular season, and even with the holidays around the corner, this week is no different. Here are the latest minor transactions from around the league:
- The Packers announced that they’ve placed long snapper Brett Goode on injured reserve, signing fellow snapper Rick Lovato to take his place. Per Wes Hodkiewicz of PackersNews.com (Twitter link), Goode tore his ACL during Sunday’s game against the Raiders.
- The Bears announced (via Twitter) that they’ve promoted defensive tackle D’Anthony Smith from the practice squad, waiving running back Antone Smith to create a roster spot. D’Anthony has spent time with the Jaguars, Lions, and Seahawks, while Antone had seen just one carry for Chicago this year.
- With Marcus Mariota ailing, the Titans have signed quarterback Alex Tanney off the Colts’ practice squad, reports Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com (Twitter link). Tanney, known for his “trick-shot” Youtube videos, will back up Zach Mettenberger on Sunday. Tennessee placed defensive tackle Mike Martin on injured reserve to create a roster spot.
Earlier updates:
- The 49ers have signed running back DuJuan Harris from off the Ravens‘ practice squad, cutting running back Travaris Cadet to make room, tweets Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com noted this afternoon (via Twitter) that the knee injury sustained by Shaun Draughn didn’t appear to be serious, but the club wanted to add some insurance just in case. San Francisco may get some added insurance in the form of Mike Davis, who is currently on the IR-DTR list, and will begin practicing this week, per Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter link).
- After somehow playing through a fractured fibula for three quarters on Sunday, safety David Bruton will head to injured reserve, officially ending his season, the Broncos confirmed today in a press release. Safety Shaun Prater will take the open spot on the roster, with Bruton expected to require four to six weeks to recover from his injury.
- As expected, the Browns formally placed starting right guard John Greco on injured reserve today, per a team release. Cleveland has re-signed wide receiver Darius Jennings to the roster, after waiving him last week.
- The Buccaneers have filled the opening on their 53-man roster by promoting wide receiver Evan Spencer from their practice squad, the team announced today in a press release. Spencer was selected in the sixth round of this year’s draft by Washington.
- The Bills are elevating wide receiver Walter Powell to their active roster from the practice squad, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Powell figures to replace Robert Woods, who is expected to land on IR.
- Giants fullback Nikita Whitlock is headed to the injured reserve list, reports Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. Whitlock suffered a knee injury that isn’t expected to be a long-term issue, but it will keep him sidelined for the club’s last couple games of the season.