Lucky Whitehead

Extra Points: Goodell, Hunt, Foster, Redskins, Kyler Murray, Whitehead

Commissioner Roger Goodell gave his annual press conference Wednesday, and was unsurprisingly asked about former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt. Goodell said the investigation into the incident that led the Chiefs to cut Hunt “should conclude ‘soon’ and that he’ll go back on the exempt list whenever” he ends up signing with a team, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

As Rapsheet points out, Hunt is looking at a “likely suspension”, although it’s unclear what the length may be. We heard a couple of weeks ago that the investigation was likely to be over by March. Shortly before that, it was reported that the Bears had spoken to Hunt. Chicago seems like a strong possibility for Hunt, as Jordan Howard struggled heavily this year and it would reunite Hunt with his former offensive coordinator in Matt Nagy.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Speaking of possible suspensions, Goodell also weighed in on Reuben Foster‘s situation. In the same tweet, Rapoport wrote that Goodell said “just because his charge was dropped doesn’t mean he won’t be suspended.” Foster recently saw the charges dropped for his most recent arrest, but he’s apparently not out of the woods yet. Goodell also said that he plans to speak in person with Foster again before making a decision, according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post. Foster was claimed off waivers by the Redskins after the 49ers cut him late in the season, but he’s been on the exempt list ever since.
  • The Redskins recently promoted quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell to offensive coordinator, but that doesn’t mean head coach Jay Gruden is giving up play-calling duties. Redskins team president Bruce Allen said during a recent radio appearance that as of now the plan is still for Gruden to call the plays, according to John Keim of ESPN.com. Allen did leave the door open for things to change, and other sources told Keim that a change is still in play.
  • Despite declaring for the NFL draft, Kyler Murray is still very much undecided about whether he’ll play football or baseball, according to Rapoport (Twitter link). Rapoport notes in the video that Murray hasn’t yet hired an agent for football or committed to attending the combine next month, and says the A’s, the MLB team that holds Murray’s rights, are still negotiating to potentially sweeten his deal and convince him to play baseball. He’ll have to make a decision pretty soon, and we should know a lot more within the next few weeks.
  • Former Cowboys and Jets kick returner Lucky Whitehead was arrested in Virginia earlier this week and charged with driving under the influence, according to TMZ. Whitehead was released by the Cowboys in 2017 after a bizarre incident where it was wrongly reported that Whitehead had been arrested after someone had given his identity to police. He was claimed off waivers by the Jets, and spent the 2017 season with them. Cut this past August, he spent the entire 2018 season out of football. Now arrested for real, this won’t help his chances of getting back into the league.

NFL Workout Updates: 10/9/18

Here’s the latest from the workout circuit, courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

New Orleans Saints

Oakland Raiders

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/26/18

Here are today’s minor moves:

Denver Broncos

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: FB Daniel Marx

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

  • Signed: QB Connor Jessop, DL JoJo Wicker
  • Waived: CB Darius Hillary, WR Allenzae Staggers
  • Waived from injured reserve: RB Martez Carter, OL Cameron Jefferson, FB Elijah Wellman

Jets Place Matt Forte On IR

Matt Forte‘s second Jets season will end prior to Week 17. The team placed the 10th-year running back on IR, Brian Costello of the New York Post reports (on Twitter).

The Jets promoted wide receiver/return man Lucky Whitehead and running back Jahad Thomas to the active roster, per Costello (on Twitter), and placed running back Akeem Judd on IR.

Struggles with injuries derailed Forte’s 2017 campaign, and it’s uncertain if he will be back with New York next season. Forte has not had any discussions with the Jets about his 2018 status yet, he said (via Costello), but has indicated he wants to play next season. Costello notes Forte would probably like to return to the Jets, but team can save $3MM by cutting Forte prior to the final season of his three-year deal.

Forte finished this season with 381 rushing yards — over 500 fewer than his previous career-low figure of 813, which came last season for the Jets — and received just 103 carries. Bilal Powell and rookie Elijah McGuire ate into Forte’s workload, and the usually durable back found himself in a committee. Forte played in at least 15 games in each of his first seven seasons and suited up for 14 in his Jets debut. Knee pain limited him to 12 this season; he underwent knee surgery last offseason but said he doesn’t expect to need another operation prior to the 2018 season.

McGuire has three years remaining on his rookie deal, and Powell will make $4MM in base salary next season. Forte’s due $3MM in base, but this injury-plagued season and a non-guaranteed salary could induce the Jets to part ways with him.

The Jets signed Whitehead to their practice squad in late November.

Jets Sign Lucky Whitehead To P-Squad

The Jets eyed Lucky Whitehead as their return man coming into this season, but the former Cowboys specialist broke his foot to nix that idea.

However, Whitehead appears to have healed up and will return to the Jets as part of their practice squad, the team announced. The Jets waived linebacker Jeremy Cash to make room on the 10-man unit.

Whitehead ventured to the Jets’ facility for a visit earlier this month, and that looks to have sparked a reunion. The third-year wide receiver/return man suffered the broken foot in August and was waived with an injury settlement in September as the Jets organized their regular-season roster.

Dallas used Whitehead as its primary return man from 2015-16, but a case of mistaken identity induced a split between the parties earlier this year. The Jets then claimed him on waivers. The Jets are currently without punt returner Jeremy Kerley due to suspension.

NFL Workout Updates: 11/21/17

Here’s the workout news from Tuesday.

Buffalo Bills

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

New York Jets

AFC Notes: Kizer, Jackson, Bowles, Whitehead, Jags, Grissom

The Browns are in the midst of another season in the cellar of the league and while the 49ers are also winless, the teams’ quarterback situations have Cleveland looking like a much less hopeful franchise moving forward. The Browns struggles in finding a franchise quarterback have been been well documented over the years, but despite a botched midseason trade for A.J. McCarron, head coach Hue Jackson still believes that current rookie starter DeShone Kizer has the ability to end the team’s long QB issues, reports Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.

“I think this guy is going to be a really good player in time, but there’s work to be done,” Jackson said. “We all want the instant success, but it’s going to take a little bit of time because I think it’s not just him. I think the whole offensive team has to do their part, too. But does he have to play better? Yes, he does.

Ulrich relays that while Jackson did push for the McCarron trade, it was was a move that the head coach wanted to make in order to help better his team in the short-term, full knowing that Kizer still had a lot of development to do this season.

“My job as a head coach is to always push for better talent on this football team,” “You’re talking about a young player in the National Football League who has had [seven] starts, compared to other players who have either played for me or players that I have seen that have done it week in and week out. I don’t think that’s a knock on DeShone.”

  • Sticking with the Browns quarterback situation, Mark Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com explained the team’s potential interest in some veteran signal callers this offseason in a video posted to the website. Cabot didn’t shoot down the notion that the Browns could conceivably after names such as Eli Manning, Kirk Cousins and Alex Smith, which would be a major upgrade over what the franchise has this season. The reporter even threw out Andrew Luck as being a potential target if the Colts were to make him available if they have interest in a QB prospect at the top of the draft. She does also note that the team could look at taking another signal caller high in the 2018 NFL Draft. There will be many quarterback options available, but it’s looking likely that the Browns may have a few new faces on the QB depth chart by the time their 2018 training camp begins.
  • While the Browns have performed close to their already low expectations, the Jets have been one of the bigger surprises in the NFL thus far. After seemingly starting the year trying to tank, the Jets are right in the thick of the AFC wild card race after beating the Bills last week for their fourth victory of the season, which has Ralph Vacchiano of theJetsBlog already saying that head coach Todd Bowles has proven that he’s the man to lead this team into the future. Vacchiano argues that although the Jets are just sniffing the playoff hunt, this season was never really about winning, but instead proving to the front office that he is the right head coach for the years to come. He notes that Bowles has the team playing loose and free after a tumultuous 2016 season. The third-year head coach has one more year left on his current deal, but Vacchiano states that he thinks the Jets should invest longer than even 2018 given the way the team has overachieved over the first nine weeks. There is still lots of games to be played and the Jets schedule does get tougher from here, but there is no doubt that the team is playing harder and better even with so many unproven players all over the roster.
  • The Jets will have to shake up special teams return unit for this Sunday’s game with wide receiver Jeremy Kerley suspended. To potentially remedy this, the team will bring in veteran return man Lucky Whitehead in for a visit on Saturday, according to Howard Balzer of Sports on Earth (Twitter link). Whitehead, 25, fielded 25 punt returns for Dallas last season and would make for an easy slot-in given his experience level with returning in his third year in the league.
  • The Jaguars have three starting lineman listed as questionable for Sunday’s affair vs. the Chargers, according to the team’s website. Guards Patrick Omameh and A.J. Cann, along with tackle Jermey Parnell are uncertain to play, which would make it much more difficult for the team to establish a ground game even with Leonard Fournette likely returning after missing the team’s last two games with an injury and suspension due to team rules. Jacksonville has five reserve offensive lineman on the roster, so depth is not a huge issue even if the offense is missing 3/5th’s of its normal group up front.
  • Recently released Patriots defensive end/special teamer Geneo Grissom has cleared waivers, tweets Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. Grissom was removed from the active roster to make room for new signee Martellus Bennett, who made some interesting comments today with how he perceived the Packers medical staff misguiding him with his injury. Meanwhile, Reiss notes that New England can now bring Grissom back to the practice squad if they so choose.

NFL Workout Updates: 11/7/17

Today’s workout updates:

Arizona Cardinals

  • QBs Joel Stave, Alek Torgersen; WRs Harvey Binford, Dante Edwards (link via Balzer)

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

  • WR Dominique Young (link via Wilson)

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/11/17

Monday’s minor moves from around the NFL:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

  • Promoted from practice squad: DT Tyrique Jarrett

Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Promoted from practice squad: WR Geremy Davis
  • Waived: CB Jeff Richards

Minnesota Vikings

  • Released with injury settlement: QB Taylor Heinicke

New Orleans Saints

  • Promoted from practice squad: LB Adam Bighill

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Jets Make 23 Moves, Reach 53-Man Limit

The Jets waived 17 players, released three, placed two on the suspended list, and waived/injured one player in order to reach the 53-man maximum. Here’s the complete breakdown:

Waived:

Reserve/Suspended:

Waived/Injured:

Released:

Purdum was the longest-tenured player on the Jets’ roster, but he wasn’t performing up to standards this offseason. When the Jets acquired long snapper Thomas Hennessy in a trade with the Colts in late August, it was clear that Purdum’s time with the organization was coming to a close.