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NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/10/15

November 10th, 2015 at 4:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, we learned that the Ravens had signed running back Terrance West to their practice squad, cutting defensive end Nordly Capi to make room. That’s one of a handful of practice squad changes around the league today, so let’s round up the rest….

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

  • Signed: DT Eric Crume (press release via team)
  • Cut: DT Justin Hamilton

Indianapolis Colts

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

St. Louis Rams

  • Signed: LB Matthew Wells (Twitter link via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Colts Place Henry Anderson On IR

November 9th, 2015 at 11:08am CST by Luke Adams

11:08am: The Colts have freed up a pair of spots on their 53-man roster as they enter their bye week. The team announced today that it has placed Anderson on the injured reserve list and waived cornerback Tony Carter.

10:36am: The Colts notched their biggest and best win of the season on Sunday, knocking off the undefeated Broncos to move ahead of the Texans for first place in the AFC South. However, that victory appears to have come at a cost.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), after conducting initial tests, the Colts believe that promising rookie defensive end Henry Anderson tore his ACL. An MRI is still forthcoming, but it’s expected to confirm the diagnosis feared by the team.

Anderson, 24, was selected by the Colts with the 93rd overall pick in the third round of the draft back in May. Immediately slotted into the club’s starting lineup, Anderson has been one of the pleasant surprises of this year’s rookie class, totaling 31 tackles, a sack, and a pair of passes defended in his first nine games in the NFL.

Assuming the MRI confirms that Anderson has a torn ACL, he’ll be sidelined for the rest of the season, prompting the Colts to turn to potential fill-ins like T.Y. McGill, Zach Kerr, and Billy Winn. Indianapolis would also likely add another defensive lineman to the roster, since moving Anderson to IR would leave the team with just five healthy players on the line.

AFC Notes: Titans, Browns, Cobb, Luck

November 7th, 2015 at 7:29pm CST by Sam Robinson

Peyton Manning‘s return to Indianapolis will headline the Week 9 slate of games from a public relations perspective, but two other matchups might actually be more consequential in terms of playoff odds. The 3-4 Dolphins will head to Buffalo to take on the fellow 3-4 Bills, while two more contenders for AFC wild card spots — the Raiders (4-3) and Steelers (4-4) — will face off in Pittsburgh.

With those contests in mind, let’s take a look at some notes from the AFC:

  • The Titans waived running back Terrance West earlier today, and that move will have implications on the Browns, West’s former club. Cleveland will not not receive the conditional seventh-round pick they were set to gain for West when they traded him to the Tennessee, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports. West’s departure from Tennessee today prevents him from earning the playing-time incentives to trigger the pick exchange.
  • David Cobb will likely rejoin the Titans next week off IR-DTR, Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com reports (on Twitter), further marginalizing the free-falling West. ESPN.com’s Adam Caplan agrees, tweeting that he expects Cobb to join the 53-man roster next week as opposed to today despite West’s waiving.
  • The league is still investigating the Colts‘ compliance with injury reporting due to revelations that Andrew Luck could be dealing with a rib injury, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link). Luck reportedly suffered several broken ribs, but that injury was never listed on the club’s official injury sheet, a potential violation of NFL rules.

Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.

AFC Notes: Colts, Harvin, Jets, Browns

November 6th, 2015 at 6:10pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The 3-5 Colts, losers of three straight games and one of the NFL’s most disappointing teams, are a strong bet to drop their fourth consecutive contest this Sunday when they match up with the 7-0 Broncos. Their season has also gone poorly away from the field, as speculation regarding the statuses of beleaguered general manager Ryan Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano has abounded and offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton lost his job earlier this week.

Indy’s players – specifically team leaders Robert Mathis and D’Qwell Jackson – are cognizant of the organization’s off-field turmoil and called a meeting among themselves last week in an effort to galvanize each other. At the meeting, the players encouraged one another to ignore distractions coming from the front office and coaching staff, Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star reports. One issue players are unhappy with centers on the front office – not the coaching staff – making certain lineup decisions, a dysfunctional action that takes a significant amount of power from Pagano & Co.

Here’s more from the AFC:

  • Bills receiver Percy Harvin could end up on injured reserve with a knee injury, general manager Doug Whaley told The Buffalo News’ Vic Carucci (Twitter link). Harvin’s knee “flared up,” Whaley said (via Twitter). The seventh-year man has 19 catches on 30 targets this year. He has been out of the Bills’ lineup with injuries since mid-October.
  • Jets cornerback Dee Milliner is back to full health after undergoing wrist surgery during the summer, but the team is unlikely to activate him from short-term injured reserve for this weekend’s game against the Jaguars, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini (Twitter link). On why Milliner won’t be in the lineup, head coach Todd Bowles said (via Howie Kussoy of the New York Post), “It’s just a numbers thing.” If the Jets don’t activate Milliner by Tuesday, they’ll have to place him on season-ending IR.
  • Browns head coach Mike Pettine said cornerback Charles Gaines, who had been on short-term IR because of a hamstring injury, is likely to start playing soon (Twitter link via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal). Gaines, a sixth-round rookie out of Louisville, hasn’t appeared in an NFL game yet.
  • The Jets worked out two free agent receivers – LaRon Byrd and Damarr Aultman – on Friday, according to Cimini (Twitter link). Byrd is the only of the two who has seen action in the league, though it was for just four games back in 2012. He has one career catch.

AFC South Notes: Texans, Titans, Mariota

November 6th, 2015 at 1:24pm CST by Luke Adams

Through eight weeks of the NFL season, AFC South teams have a combined 9-21 record, with five of those wins coming in intra-divisional contests. The dismal division-wide performance has Texans owner Bob McNair looking at the silver lining of Houston’s disappointing first half as his team heads into its bye week, writes Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com.

“We knew our offense was not going to be a high-powered offense, but we felt our defense would be one of the top-five defenses, and we’ve been far from that,” McNair said, speaking to KRIV and the Houston Chronicle. “The good news is that this is a new season, and we’re tied for first. The Colts have to play Denver next week, and we might be in first place by ourselves.”

As the Texans hope that a week off will move them into the AFC South’s top spot, let’s check on a few more items from across the division….

  • Titans wide receiver Harry Douglas has nothing but positive things to say about new interim head coach Mike Mularkey, telling Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com that the former Falcons offensive coordinator is one of the main reasons he signed with Tennessee.
  • Mularkey got some good news as he prepares for his first game as the Titans‘ head coach, telling reporters today that Marcus Mariota will start at quarterback this week for the club (Twitter link via Wyatt).
  • Here’s one more from Wyatt, who spoke to Titans GM Ruston Webster about Mularkey, former head coach Ken Whisenhunt, and retooling Tennessee’s offensive line, among other topics.
  • A Sunday date with Peyton Manning and the Broncos is right around the corner for the Colts, so Mike Wells of ESPN.com revisits Indianapolis’ decision to part ways with Manning three years ago, concluding it remains the right call for the franchise.
  • The city of Jacksonville and Jaguars owner Shad Khan have announced $90MM in planned upgrades for EverBank Field, according to an Associated Press report.

South Notes: Colts, Martin, Saints, Texans

November 5th, 2015 at 9:03am CST by Luke Adams

Having fired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and replacing him with Rob Chudzinski earlier this week, Colts head coach Chuck Pagano explained on Wednesday that he felt he had no choice but to make a move to try to shake up a stagnant offense, as Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star writes.

“I think when you keep seeing the same thing over and over again, through the course of time, we needed a change,” Pagano said. “We’ve got the talent, the grit and the character (to win), and this was something I just felt like we needed to do.”

While we look forward to seeing if the move pays dividends in the short term, let’s round up some other items from out of the NFL’s South divisions….

  • The Colts are paying linebacker Josh Martin more than $34K weekly, making him the highest-paid practice squad player in the NFL, tweets Field Yates of ESPN.com. As Yates observes, the salary is the same as Martin would earn if he were on the team’s 53-man roster.
  • Mike Triplett of ESPN.com examines four of the Saints‘ most noteworthy trades from 2015, evaluating how acquisitions of Kenny Stills, Max Unger, and others are working out so far for New Orleans. Triplett views two of those deals as wins for the Saints, and says the other two are also looking good so far.
  • Weighing in reports of discord between his general manager and head coach when it came to releasing Ryan Mallett, Texans owner Bob McNair denied that Rick Smith and Bill O’Brien disagreed on how to handle the team’s former backup quarterback. “If they disagree on something they come to me,” McNair said, per John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. “They’ve never come to me.”

Workout Notes: Patriots, Texans, Chargers

November 3rd, 2015 at 6:08pm CST by Zachary Links

The latest workouts from around the NFL:

Colts Fire OC Pep Hamilton

November 3rd, 2015 at 5:38pm CST by Zachary Links

The Colts have fired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Coach Rob Chudzinski will be promoted in his place, as Tom Pelissero of USA Today tweets.

This season has not gone as planned for the Colts, who are the defacto No. 1 team in the AFC South. Locked at 3-5 with the Texans for first place, the Colts are looking to shake things up and save their season. Chudzinski, who previously held the title of associate head coach in Indianapolis, drew interest from multiple teams with offensive coordinator vacancies over the offseason. The Colts did not allow him to pursue those jobs and that was probably because they viewed him as a safety net for Hamilton.

Hamilton has garnered some head coaching buzz in the past but the Colts’ offensive performance this season hasn’t done him any favors in that regard. Of course, Hamilton has built up a strong reputation as an offensive mind over the years and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get back into the OC mix this spring.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/3/15

November 3rd, 2015 at 4:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad moves from across the league:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Oakland Raiders

San Diego Chargers

  • Signed: RB Dreamius Smith (Twitter link via Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune), OLB Ryan Mueller (Twitter link via Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego)

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC Notes: Ravens, Nicks, Broncos, Luck

November 2nd, 2015 at 9:33pm CST by Zachary Links

A day after losing Steve Smith Sr. for the season, the Ravens will work out a group of free-agent wide receivers that includes Hakeem Nicks, sources tell ESPN’s Ed Werder. The wide receiver has been making the workout rounds as he searches for a new team in 2015 and his most recent stop was with the Patriots.

Nicks, who spent his first five years with the Giants, posting multiple 1,000-yard seasons in New York, caught just 38 balls for 405 yards and four touchdowns last year in Indianapolis. He found a new home in free agency when he signed with the Titans earlier in the year, but Tennessee opted to keep just four wideouts on the roster to start the season, cutting Nicks in September. The veteran wideout has als0 worked out for the Saints, Cowboys, and Giants.

Here’s more from the AFC..

  • Even after acquiring Vernon Davis, Broncos GM John Elway says he’s open to more deals, as Troy Renck of The Denver Post tweets. “We will always listen. We are always trying to get better,” Elway said.
  • Peter King of TheMMQB.com believes that the NFL has to investigate a report that Andrew Luck has been playing through broken ribs. If that investigation reveals that the Colts didn’t include a rib fracture on their injury report, the league should levy a significant fine on the franchise, in King’s view.
  • Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that defensive end Brent Urban is healthy and will return to practice soon, Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun tweets. Urban is currently on the IR-DTR list.
  • Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt says that he has not considered making any staff coaching changes in-season, as Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com tweets.
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