OCTOBER 5: Taylor’s ankle injury will cause him to miss his first NFL game due to injury. The Colts have ruled out their star running back for Week 5. The reigning rushing champion, who also went through his Wisconsin career without missing a game due to injury, was wearing a walking boot at Indianapolis’ Tuesday practice, Stephen Holder of ESPN.com notes. Prior to suffering the ankle malady, Taylor was dealing with a turf toe bout. Taylor’s only previous NFL absence came in 2020 due to landing on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
OCTOBER 3: The Colts fell to 1-2-1 on the season Sunday, and saw their most notable player on both sides of the ball suffer injuries. Running back Jonathan Taylorpicked up an ankle injury during the game, leaving his Week 5 availability in question (video link via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network).
Rapoport notes that the injury isn’t expected to be particularly serious, and ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter adds the reigning rushing champion has a chance to play against the Broncos on Thursday (Twitter link). However, the fact that the Colts are on a short week could leave Taylor sidelined for that contest. He underwent testing immediately following Sunday’s game, the results of which will go a long way in determining if the Colts have their top offensive weapon available.
The 2021 Offensive Player of the Year was limited to just 42 yards on 20 carries yesterday, the latest in a string of underwhelming performances for he and the Colts. On the season, Taylor has amassed 328 rushing yards on an average of 4.0 yards per carry – a far cry from the 5.5 he posted last season en route to becoming the league’s top rusher – and a single touchdown.
Should the Wisconsin product miss Thursday’s game, Nyheim Hineswould take on the starter’s role. He has received just eight carries so far, resulting in 11 yards. As usual, though, he has been more effective in the passing game, posting 17 catches for 113 yards. Former UDFA Deon Jackson— who has seen just two offensive snaps this season — is next on the depth chart, though ex-Bronco Phillip Lindsayis another option on the practice squad.
The Colts’ offense has struggled throughout the campaign, and the loss of Taylor would put even more pressure on the unit. Key defenders Shaquille Leonardand Tyquan Lewishave already been ruled out for Thursday’s game, as noted by Zak Keefer of The Athletic (Twitter link). Whether or not Taylor can suit up will be a situation worth watching over the coming days.
Released from IR via injury settlement: TE Tommy Hudson
Cine has now undergone two surgeries in London to repair his leg fracture. The first-round pick underwent a preparatory procedure before his Tuesday operation to repair the compound fracture he sustained. The Georgia product will stay in England for the time being, with Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press noting (via Twitter) doctors want to ensure no infections develop. Cine could travel back to Minnesota as soon as this weekend.
Following Latavius Murrayoff the Saints’ practice squad this week, Wilson did not see any action for the team this season. The former multiyear Vikings starter signed a one-year, $2.75MM Eagles deal in 2021, but Philadelphia bailed on that contract during the season. Wilson, 28, finished last season with the Texans. In his lone full season as a Vikings starter (2020), Wilson made 122 tackles, registered three sacks and intercepted three passes.
Addison signed with the Texans shortly after the draft, joining fellow ex-Bills edge rusher Jerry Hughes in joining the rebuilding team on a two-year deal. The Texans placed Addison on IR with a groin injury; he is eligible to be activated to the 53-man roster this week. Teams can make eight activations from their injured lists — be it IR, PUP or NFI — this season.
4:02pm: Leonard did indeed play in today’s game, registering a pair of tackles. However, he suffered a concussion during the contest, as noted by The Athletic’s Zak Keefer (on Twitter). With the Colts scheduled to play this Thursday, it seems doubtful that Leonard would be available for Week 5.
9:28am: Colts star linebacker Shaquille Leonard is expected to make his 2022 debut against the Titans on Sunday, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (via Twitter). Barring a setback, Indianapolis will have its three-time First Team All-Pro assuming his familiar role as the anchor of the team’s defense.
Leonard underwent offseason back surgery to relieve the pressure that two discs in his spine were putting on his nerves. Earlier this week, Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star published an article discussing Leonard’s status, noting that some have wondered why he has not returned to game action despite having practiced for nearly a month and being listed as a full participant. Those questions intensified when Leonard was shown moving and celebrating on the video board at Lucas Oil Stadium during the Colts’ Week 3 win over the Chiefs last Sunday.
In responding to that criticism, Leonard referenced the ankle injury that required offseason surgery last year, hampered him throughout the 2021 campaign, and lingered into this past summer. “I’m going to say this, because I’ve seen it all on social media: If I’m ready to go, I’m going to play,” he said. “Everybody knows me. I went out there last year with one ankle. I love this game, I love this game with all my heart and I’d do anything to play this game for 100 years. There’s no such thing as me standing on the sideline because of me.”
Leonard indicated he has not suited up for the first three games of the 2022 season simply because he did not believe he was ready to make a positive contribution to the defense. “People think it was just back and ankle, but there were a lot of nerve things that went wrong,” he added. “Practicing for four weeks: People have to understand, that first week was nothing but stiffness. The second week was OK, how can I cover ground? Third week, OK, let me see how can I tackle? Can I tackle in space? Can I move left and right? Can I do the things that I know I’m supposed to do? That’s what it comes down to.”
Head coach Frank Reich said that the team has been comparing Leonard’s practice tape with tape of him performing at full strength, and that review led him to conclude that Leonard was not yet close enough to his normal self to play. However, Rapoport’s report suggests that the situation has sufficiently improved over the past few days.
It goes without saying that the return of a player of Leonard’s caliber will be a significant development for the 1-1-1 Colts. Despite the ankle injury, Leonard posted 122 total tackles, four interceptions, eight passes defensed, and a league-leading eight forced fumbles in 2021.
September 30th, 2022 at 1:19pm CST by Sam Robinson
As we exit September, trade rumors will become a steady NFL topic. This year’s deadline falls on Nov. 1. That will return cap-space discussions to the forefront. Here is how every team stacks up financially going into October, via Over The Cap.
Cleveland Browns: $35.94MM
Philadelphia Eagles: $10.89MM
Denver Broncos: $10.67MM
Carolina Panthers: $10.47MM
Las Vegas Raiders: $10.35MM
Dallas Cowboys: $9.25MM
Pittsburgh Steelers: $8.64MM
Green Bay Packers: $8.57MM
Indianapolis Colts: $7.97MM
Atlanta Falcons: $7.92MM
New York Jets: $6.97MM
Chicago Bears: $6.84MM
San Francisco 49ers: $6.75MM
Miami Dolphins: $6.51MM
Arizona Cardinals: $6.25MM
Los Angeles Chargers: $5.83MM
New York Giants: $5.49MM
Jacksonville Jaguars: $5.41MM
Los Angeles Rams: $5.38MM
Baltimore Ravens: $4.51MM
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $3.87MM
New England Patriots: $3.5MM
Cincinnati Bengals: $3.16MM
New Orleans Saints: $2.86MM
Detroit Lions: $2.64MM
Washington Commanders: $2.58MM
Buffalo Bills: $2.44MM
Tennessee Titans: $2.41MM
Seattle Seahawks: $2.28MM
Kansas City Chiefs: $2.12MM
Houston Texans: $1.64MM
Minnesota Vikings: $1.47MM
The Eagles’ number is certainly far closer to the Vikings’ last-place figure than what the Browns have stockpiled. Cleveland would stand to have room to augment its 2022 roster, via a patient free agent or a trade. That could depend on where Jacoby Brissett has the team stationed going into the Nov. 1 deadline. But the Browns also appear to be preparing for their Deshaun Watson future. Watson’s unprecedented contract spikes from a $9.4MM cap number (2022) to a record-shattering $54.99MM numbers from 2023-26. As that reality awaits, the Browns rolling over cap space to 2023 would be prudent.
With Sterling Shepard‘s ACL tear moving the veteran wide receiver to IR, the Giants will need to both cover that cost ($6.3MM) and add a contract to fill the roster spot. Every team will go through versions of that issue this season, as injuries pile up. The Giants are prepared to eat a significant chunk ofKenny Golladay‘s 2022 base salary ($13MM) to move him, eyeing an escape from his $4.5MM 2023 guarantee. No takers have emerged, though it will be interesting to see if a market for the former Pro Bowler forms once injuries affect more teams’ receiver situations.
Since their Jimmy Garoppolo restructure, the 49ers agreed to a two-year extension withDre Greenlaw. The team is not expected to extend Nick Bosa until 2023, however. The Texans, Falcons, Bears and Eagles all sit north of $60MM in dead money, meaning more than a quarter of their respective cap space is tied to players no longer on the roster. Watson, Matt Ryan and Khalil Mack are responsible for massive dead-money hits on the Houston, Atlanta and Chicago payrolls. Philadelphia still has Alshon Jeffery, Malik Jackson and Brandon Brooks dead money on its cap sheet.
Carter spent last season as a full-time Panthers starting linebacker, but after signing a one-year deal with the Chiefs, the vested veteran could not make his new team’s 53-man roster. The former fifth-round pick has 30 career starts. The Browns just lost linebacker starter Anthony Walkerfor the season.
An NFLer since 2017, Hollister signed with the Raiders this offseason. But the team released him from IR via settlement earlier this month. Hollister, who caught six touchdown passes with the Seahawks from 2019-20, spent last season with the Jaguars.
Smith, 29, spent five years with the Buccaneers, ending that run as a backup cornerback and special-teamer for Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl LV-winning team. A starter for the 2017 and ’18 Bucs, Smith played in four Chargers games last season.
As the Bills head to South Florida for a noon matchup against a red-hot Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins, they have seen a tough challenge get tougher. Buffalo released an injury update on its website today reporting that the team expects to be without four starters: two in the secondary, in safety Micah Hyde and cornerback Dane Jackson, and two defensive tackles, Ed Oliver and Jordan Phillips. Jackson, Hyde, and Phillips all left Monday night’s game with injuries, while Oliver will miss his second straight contest.
Jackson left the game last week after a collision that forced his head backwards in a scary-looking neck injury. He was taken off the field in an ambulance, but, luckily, avoided any major injury. Unfortunately, Jackson hasn’t been able to practice at all this week but has been able to be around the team at the facilities.
Hyde also suffered a neck injury, albeit a far less severe-looking injury than Jackson’s, that held him out of practice this week. Phillips left the game Monday with a hamstring injury and also was unable to practice this week. Oliver has been dealing with an ankle injury that held him out last week, as well.
Missing three starters in the secondary (cornerback Tre’Davious White remains on injured reserve) makes the prospect of facing Tagovailoa a bit more cumbersome one week after he threw for 469 yards and six touchdowns against a banged up Ravens secondary. They’ll turn to rookies Christian Benford and Kaiir Elam to fill in at cornerback with help from veteran Bills cornerbacks Taron Johnson and Siran Neal. Damar Hamlin and Jaquan Johnson will be asked to step up in Hyde’s absence, as well.
With both Phillips and Oliver out on the defensive line, it’s a good bet that the Bills will mirror their gameday practice squad call-ups from last week in defensive tackles C.J. Brewer and Brandin Bryant.
Here are a few more Sunday injury statuses we learned about today, starting with a couple of big starters out in Sin City:
The Raiders are set to face off against the Titans this weekend without two Pro Bowlers as wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and linebacker Denzel Perryman are officially out, according to Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Hill also reports that, after missing two practices with an illness, running back Josh Jacobs is questionable to play this Sunday.
Despite initial reports in the preseason that Colts star linebacker Shaquille Leonard would not miss any time, the 27-year-old is set to miss his third straight game after being ruled out against the Chiefs this week, according to Mike Chappell of Indianapolis Fox59. Head coach Frank Reich told the media, “Deep down it’s the player. Deep down the player has to know he can play winning football and help this team win. That’s where we’ve got to get to.”
Former NFL quarterback Josh McCown has twice interviewed for the Texans head coaching gig, but that’s not the only interest he’s generated around the NFL. In a profile of the 43-year-old, Dan Pompei of The Athletic writes that the Colts, Eagles, and Vikings have reached out to McCown about joining their coaching staffs, with the writer suggesting there have probably been other suitors for the retired player’s services.
McCown got into 102 games after entering the NFL in 2002. He saw time in three games for the Eagles in 2019 (plus a playoff loss where he attempted 24 passes), and after briefly joining Houston’s practice squad, he was asked to interview for their head coaching job after the 2020 campaign. That gig ultimately went to David Culley, but McCown was asked to join the staff as associate head coach.
Instead, McCown joined the staff at Rusk High School in Texas, where he’s coached his sons over the past two years. He was brought in this past offseason to once again interview for Houston’s head coaching gig, with some reports suggesting he was the favorite for the position. The Texans ended up promoting defensive coordinator Lovie Smith to head coach, but McCown clearly made a good impression during his time with the Texans.
After spending time with 12 different organizations during his playing career, McCown has many connections throughout the league. As a result, Pompei writes that “there is a chance” the former QB could be hired somewhere as a head coach, a feat that would make him the first individual to go directly from the NFL to a HC gig since Norm Van Brocklin in 1961.
“Life takes you a bunch of places, and those experiences develop skill sets that you can sit on, or you can pass on and maybe try to bring more good into the world that way,” he says. “Coaching in the game of football is a way for me to do that, to pass that forward and have an influence the way some of these good men have had in my life.”
While it’d certainly be strange for McCown to jump right into a head coaching job, he has earned endorsements from a number of former coaches and executives, including Bill Parcells. While he rejected previous overtures to join coaching staffs, he made it clear that he wouldn’t solely look for a head coaching job next offseason and would consider a variety of roles.
