Indianapolis Colts News & Rumors

Let’s take a look at some links from around the league while waiting for the murky playoff picture to begin to sort itself out:

• Although Kellen Moore did not exactly set the world ablaze in the Cowboys‘ loss to the Jets last night, he nearly helped his team to an upset victory and demonstrated that he is a better option than Matt Cassel moving forward. However, as ESPN’s Todd Archer writes, head coach Jason Garrett is as yet unwilling to name Moore the starter for the final two games of the season. The Cowboys will need to address the backup quarterback situation behind Tony Romo next year, and it makes sense for the club to at least see what it has in Moore.
• Last night’s loss officially eliminated the Cowboys from playoff contention, so owner Jerry Jones expects the team to put Romo on injured reserve, according to Charen Williams of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter).
• Washington has made it clear that it is ready to move on from Robert Griffin III, but Ian Rapoport (article via Conor Orr of NFL.com) identifies a number of teams that may be interested in RGIII. That list includes the Cowboys, Eagles, Texans, and Saints (or whichever team happens to employ Sean Payton).
• While Chuck Pagano‘s future in Indianapolis is still very much up in the air, if the Colts do decide to part ways with him, Rapoport says that he would immediately become one of the most sought-after head coaching candidates in the league. Although Pagano has previously said the Colts job would be his last coaching gig, there will apparently be no shortage of teams trying to change his mind.
• Although things could change in the next several weeks, Mark Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com suggests that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is growing increasingly weary of his team’s performance and could be leaning towards a “clean sweep” that would see both head coach Mike Pettine and GM Ray Farmer lose their jobs. We had previously heard that one of Farmer or Pettine would be fired, but not both.
• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says the NFL-to-Los Angeles process is getting uglier by the minute, with “members of the league’s Los Angeles committee making promises to St. Louis in an effort to keep the Rams there and publicly trashing San Diego in an effort to get the Chargers out.” Florio suggests one way to placate all parties involved may be to have Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Rams owner Stan Kroenke swap their franchises, much like the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams were swapped in 1972. The entire article is worth reading, and although Florio concedes it is something of an outlandish idea, he suggests it could gain traction as we get closer to the critical owners meetings in January. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, however, was quick to throw cold water on that notion (via Twitter).
• According to Rapoport (via Twitter) Leonard Hankerson, who was claimed by the Patriots this week, was released by the Falcons off the injured reserve list when he told Atlanta that he was healthy and wanted to be cut. The Falcons obliged, and now Hankerson is suited up for New England this afternoon.
• Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com looks at the 2016 class of free agent cornerbacks.