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Minor NFL Transactions: 10/14/17

October 14th, 2017 at 5:13pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are today’s minor moves.

  • Jack Mewhort‘s IR trip prompted the Colts to look outside the organization for help. They signed guard Isaiah Williams off the Chiefs‘ practice squad. Williams failed to make the Redskins’ roster out of camp in each of the past two summers but caught on with the Chiefs earlier this season. He’s yet to play in a regular-season game.
  • Chris Conley‘s nationally televised Achilles’ tendon rupture sent the third-year wide receiver to IR, and the Chiefs replaced him on the roster with practice squad wideout Marcus Kemp. The Chiefs signed Kemp as a UDFA out of Hawaii in May and stashed him on their practice squad after the preseason.
  • The Raiders will bring their 2016 third-round pick back to the active roster, re-signing linebacker Shilique Calhoun and placing cornerback Antonio Hamilton on IR, Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com tweets. Hamilton underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus. The second-year player played in four games this season for the Raiders, primarily as a special-teamer. Calhoun played in 10 Oakland games last season but landed on the team’s practice squad to start this campaign.
  • The 49ers promoted tight end Cole Hikutini to their active roster from the practice squad. A rookie UDFA out of Louisville, Hikutini’s resided in San Francisco’s practice squad since the preseason concluded. Hikutini will take NaVorro Bowman‘s roster spot.
  • The Texans cut safety Marcus Cromartie and replaced him with practice squad safety Kurtis Drummond, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweets. Cromartie played the past three seasons as 49ers depth piece. Although Drummond played in four Houston games this season, the team cut him to make room for waiver claim Ben Heeney last week.

Colts Place Jack Mewhort On IR

October 14th, 2017 at 12:29pm CST by Ben Levine

The Colts injury bug hits again. Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star reports (via Twitter) that offensive guard Jack Mewhort is headed to the injured reserve. The lineman’s knee swelled up yesterday, and a subsequent MRI revealed that he needed surgery.

Sep 13, 2015; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Indianapolis Colts guard Jack Mewhort (75) against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills beat the Colts 27 to 14. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Mewhort, 26, has started each of his 45 NFL games since entering the league as a second-round pick in 2014. This isn’t the first time the lineman has experienced knee issues. After suffering an injury during the 2016 preseason, Mewhort missed the first few weeks of the regular season. He went on to play in 10 games for the Colts, but his campaign ultimately ended on the IR.

This is yet another blow to a Colts offensive line that has allowed 18 total sacks this season. The team has previously lost Denzelle Good and Deyshawn Bond, although neither of those players were as essential as Mewhort. While Pro Football Focus wasn’t particularly fond of his performance in 2017 (he only ranks 48th among 72 eligible guards), he was rated much higher in previous seasons. With Mewhort done for the season, one of Le’Raven Clark, Mike Person, or Kyle Kalis could be promoted to the starting lineup.

Fortunately, there is some good news for the Colts. ESPN’s Mike Wells tweets that tight end Jack Doyle has cleared the concussion protocol and will play on Monday night. The 27-year-old missed last week’s game against the 49ers.

Dan Orlovsky To Retire

October 11th, 2017 at 5:40pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky has announced his retirement in a piece for Sports Spectrum.Dan Orlovsky

Orlovsky, 34, entered the league as a fifth-round pick out of UConn in 2005. He participated in two separate stints with the Lions — the club that drafted him — and is perhaps best-known for his seven-game run as a starter for Detroit in 2008. After one season with the Texans, Orlovsky started five games for the Colts in 2011 before landing with the Buccaneers from 2012-13 and re-joining the Lions in 2015.

Orlovsky inked a deal with the Rams this summer, but he was released after losing out to Sean Mannion in the Los Angeles backup quarterback battle. The Rams ultimately brought in a third quarterback — former Jaguars draft pick Brandon Allen — off waivers just days after cutting Orlovsky.

PFR extends its best wishes to Orlovsky in retirement.

NFL Workout Updates: 10/10/17

October 10th, 2017 at 9:31pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Oakland Raiders

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC South Notes: Colts, Luck, Texans, Watt

October 10th, 2017 at 2:15pm CST by Zachary Links

Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has been ruled out for next Monday night’s game against Tennessee, coach Chuck Pagano tells reporters. The Colts are still waiting for Luck to make his 2017 debut but publicly they have been insistent that he will play at some point. Over the weekend we learned that Luck is at least a month away from playing.

Here’s more from the AFC South:

  • Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt is facing a lengthy recovery for his tibial plateau fracture, but the good news is that he did not suffer ligament damage, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com hears (on Twitter). The Houston star will miss the remainder of the 2017 season, meaning that he will have missed 24 games over the past two regular seasons. Before that, Watt earned Pro Bowl trips and first-team All-Pro honors in every campaign from 2012-2015.
  • Colts wide receiver Krishawn Hogan confirmed that an ACL tear is the reason behind his being placed on IR (Twitter link via Mike Chappell of CBS4). “‘I kind of knew it when it happened,” Hogan said of the injury. The UDFA out of Marian University was elevated from the Colts’ practice squad in late September and appeared in two games. He had practice buzz, so the Colts can be expected to circle back to him in the offseason.
  • Colin Kaepernick‘s representatives reached out to the Titans after Marcus Mariota went down with a hamstring issue.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/9/17

October 9th, 2017 at 7:56pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Chicago Bears

Jacksonville Jaguars

Indianapolis Colts

  • Promoted to active roster: LB Darnell Sankey
  • Placed on IR: WR Krishawn Hogan

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Colts Cut Chris Culliver From IR

October 9th, 2017 at 5:18pm CST by Zachary Links

The Colts are cutting Chris Culliver from injured reserve, as veteran NFL reporter Adam Caplan tweets. Culliver, if healthy, will now be free to sign with any team. Chris Culliver (vertical)

[RELATED: Latest On Colts QB Andrew Luck]

The Colts signed Culliver in August with the hope that he could bolster one of the league’s worst secondaries from 2016. Unfortunately, a groin injury took him out of commission during the preseason, leading the Colts to put him on IR prior to the 53-man deadline.

Culliver, 29, was a 14-game starter as recently as 2014, but he has been hampered by injuries in recent years.After being released by the Redskins in the spring of 2016, Culliver sat on the free agent market until landing a one-year deal with the Dolphins in August. Still recovering from a torn ACL, Culliver began the season on the PUP list and was ultimately cut in November without ever having played a down for Miami. Culliver has not seen the field since Nov. 22, 2015.

Andrew Luck Still At Least A Month Away

October 8th, 2017 at 8:48am CST by Rory Parks

Colts quarterback Andrew Luck returned to practice in a limited capacity this week, but Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that the star signal-caller is still at least a month away from returning to game action. There was hope that Luck could return for the Colts’ Week 6 (October 16) tilt against the Titans, or, failing that, for the team’s Week 7 matchup against the Jaguars on October 22. However, it appears as though neither of those scenarios will come to fruition.

Andrew Luck

Per La Canfora, Luck made it through his initial throwing program with no setbacks, but he is likely to spend the remainder of October continuing to rehab and slowly working his way back into game shape. He has not yet practiced on consecutive days, and he will soon progress to doing so in a limited manner. Once that happens, he can begin practicing more fully.

The Colts have stumbled to a 1-3 record without Luck under center, with their only win coming against the hapless Browns. The hope was that the season could still be salvaged if he could return to the field within the next couple of weeks, but if he cannot make it back until November 5 at the earliest, Indianapolis’ season could effectively be over. The team has winnable matchups against the 49ers, Titans, Jaguars, and Bengals prior to that date, but it is difficult to envision the Colts winning more than two of those games without Luck, which would put them at 3-5 on November 5.

In the meantime, Jacoby Brissett will continue to get the nod at quarterback. He has been something of a stabilizing influence for the Colts’ offense, but until Luck returns, Indianapolis will continue to be behind the 8-ball.

Colts Worked Out Howard Jones

October 6th, 2017 at 9:23pm CST by Dallas Robinson
  • Before signing with the Bears’ practice squad on Friday, defensive end Howard Jones worked out for the Colts, tweets veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer. Jones, 27, had drawn a good deal of interest since being non-tendered by the Buccaneers earlier this year, as he’d also met with the Titans and Jets. Still recovering from a torn ACL suffered in November of 2016, Jones wasn’t a major contributor in eight games last season before going down, but he did manage five sacks in a rotational role for Tampa Bay in 2015.
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