Nick Caserio “Willing To Listen” To Offers
Patriots vice president of player personnel Nick Caserio is “willing to listen” to offers that would make him a general manager with another club, according to Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com.
Caserio, who has spent the entirety of his 17-year NFL career with the Patriots, would particularly be interested in the Giants’ general manager position, per Breer. New York, of course, is the only club currently without a permanent GM after firing Jerry Reese on Monday. The Browns, notably, went roughly 11 hours without a general manager on Thursday, as they parted ways with Sashi Brown and hired ex-Chiefs GM John Dorsey on the same day.
Caserio has been linked to other vacancies in the past: he interviewed for the Dolphins general manager job in 2014 but declined an offer, and also declined an interview with the 49ers earlier this year. San Francisco was interested in hiring both Caserio and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in a package deal, but both ultimately stayed put in New England.
While Caserio doesn’t have final say on the Patriots’ roster (head coach Bill Belichick calls the shots in New England), he has contributed in variety of roles during his time with the club. The 41-year-old Caserio has not only worked as a scout and a personnel executive, but spent the 2007 campaign as the Patriots’ wide receivers coach. His current contract is believed to tie him to New England through 2020, but he’d be allowed to take another position if it offered him full roster control.
Gronk Could Miss Incentives Due To Ban
Rob Gronkowski will miss out on more than $270K in salary and bonuses as a result of his one-week suspension, but the Patriots tight end could see his finances affected even further due to the ban, as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com explains. Under the terms of a restructured contract signed earlier this year, Gronkowski can earn three separate tiers of incentives, all of which are tied to playtime and performance. The top tier — which includes a 90% playtime requirement as one stipulation — could now be nearly impossible to reach, as Gronkowski has played on 83.4% of New England’s offensive snaps thus far (and will obviously see that percentage decrease as a result of next week’s absence).
NFL Workout Updates: 12/6/17
Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted:
Buffalo Bills
- S Kelcie McCray (link)
Denver Broncos
- QB Wes Lunt; WRs Keyarris Garrett, Jordan Leslie, Josh Magee, Alonzo Moore; TEs Colin Jeter, Beau Sandland; G Darrell Greene (Twitter links)
Detroit Lions
- TEs Brandon Barnes, Marcus Lucas; CBs J.R. Nelson, Al-Hajj Shabazz (link)
Houston Texans
- WRs Mario Alford, C.J. Board; Ts Javarius Leamon, D.J. Tialavea (link)
Indianapolis Colts
- WR Matt Hazel; CB Sheldon Price (link)
Miami Dolphins
- DE Larry Webster; LB Cassanova McKinzy; CB Taveze Calhoun (link)
New England Patriots
- LB/DE Cam Johnson (link via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com)
New York Jets
- WR Brandon Zylstra; C Leo Koloamatangi (link)
Patriots Sign LB Jonathan Freeny
The Patriots have signed Jonathan Freeny, a source tells Doug Kyed of NESN (on Twitter). Details of the deal are not known, but it is most likely a one-year pact for the prorated portion of the minimum salary. 
The 28-year-old linebacker did his best work with the Patriots in 2015 and 2016, though the ’16 season was mostly lost due to injury. He started eleven games in that span, but he was not able to make the Pats’ initial 53-man cut in September. After stints with the Ravens and Jaguars – the latter lasting less than a week – he’s back in New England.
Freeney will provide some much needed depth at linebacker. It’s not clear whether Trevor Reilly will be able to suit up this week after suffering a concussion. Meanwhile, Dont’a Hightower, Harvey Langi, Shea McClellin, and Derek Rivers are all shelved.
The six-year NFL veteran amassed 60 tackles and one sack for the Patriots over the last two years.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/5/17
Today’s practice squad updates:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: RB Terrence Magee
- Waived: DB Jeremy Boykins
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: CB Robertson Daniel
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: P Cory Carter, S Dean Marlowe
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: LB Richie Brown
Chicago Bears
- Signed: OL Will Pericak, TE Colin Thompson
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: S Justin Currie
- Waived: WR Rannell Hall
Detroit Lions
- Signed: C Leo Koloamatangi
- Waived: S Stefan McClure
Denver Broncos
- Signed: OL Jeremiah Poutasi
- Waived: OL Gabe Ikard
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: TE Robert Tonyan
Houston Texans
- Signed: WR Devin Lucien, CB Josh Thornton
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: T Andreas Knappe
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: CB Sammy Seamster
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: TE Braedon Bowman
New England Patriots
- Signed: OL Jason King
Oakland Raiders
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: T Isaiah Battle, WR Cyril Grayson, DT Garrison Smith
- Waived: TE Steve Donatell
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DE Sterling Bailey
Washington Redskins
- Signed: LB Pete Robertson
- Waived: S Orion Stewart
Suspension Upheld For Gronk
Appeals officer Derrick Brooks has upheld the one-game suspension of Rob Gronkowski, the league announced. Gronkowski will not dress for Monday night’s game against the Dolphins. 
Gronk lost his cool after Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White intercepted a pass in his direction. Apparently frustrated with the rookie’s pestering D, Gronkowski hit White after the whistle. Surprisingly, the dirty play did not earn him an ejection, but few were caught off guard by the league’s one-game ban. Gronkowski appealed in an effort to keep himself on the field and potentially save millions of dollars, but it was an uphill battle.
Now that Gronk has officially been ruled out for Monday’s game against Miami, the Patriots may promote Will Tye off of the practice squad to serve as the team’s third tight end. Conversely, they may go out-of-house if they are keen on protecting Tye. If they were to promote Tye for just one game, they’d have to expose him to waivers before re-signing him to the taxi squad.
NFL Suspends Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has been suspended for Week 14, the NFL announced. Gronkowski hit Bills cornerback TreDavious White after he intercepted a pass and fell down on his return. The tight end was, surprisingly, not ejected from the game, but he will pay the price for it nonetheless. Gronkowski plans to appeal, Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report (on Twitter) hears. 
The Patriots will be without Gronk when they take on the Dolphins on Monday night. He will be eligible to return for Week 15 when the Pats travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.
In his letter to Gronkowski, NFL Vice President of Football Operations Jon Runyan wrote the following:
“Your actions were not incidental, could have been avoided and placed the opposing player at risk of serious injury. The Competition Committee has clearly expressed its goal of ‘eliminating flagrant hits that have no place in our game.’ Those hits include the play you were involved in yesterday.”
There’s never a good time to lose a top weapon like Gronkowski, but the Patriots are in no real danger of missing the playoffs. At 10-2, they hold a virtually insurmountable lead over Buffalo for the AFC East crown. According to the playoff odds at Football Outsiders, the Patriots have a 99.97% chance of reaching the postseason.
However, the ban will hurt Gronkowski’s wallet. Not only will he miss out on $281K in lost salary, but the missed game may also impact his incentives package. The tight end’s contract includes three different tiers of incentives and he may wind up having to settle for the lowest one rather than the second-ranked tier that he was previously on target for. If that’s the case, then the ban may effectively cost him about $2.3MM.
Dwayne Allen and Jacob Hollister currently stand as the Patriots’ only tight ends on the active roster. Former Giants standout Will Tye is on the practice squad, so he could be in line for a one-week promotion.
Could Gronk Be Suspended?
While the NFL did levy two-game suspensions to Aqib Talib and Michael Crabtree this past week, this situation is clearly different given that there was no history of bad blood between the two players, Though, it’s clear that the Pats All-pro was in the wrong and could miss time or at least get heavily fined because of his actions on the field today.
Although the result of the Patriots-Bills game this afternoon was an expected New England victory, something rather surprising did happen during the fourth quarter of the contest. Up handily by 20 points, Tom Brady threw an interception to cornerback Tre’Davious White. However, when the rookie fell down after his return, tight end Rob Gronkowski clearly hit him in the head while he was just face down on the turf. Gronk was not thrown out because of his malicious action, but Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com was surprised he wasn’t and thinks further punishment could be coming for the star tight end.
Practice Squad Updates: 12/2/2017
Here are today’s practice squad moves:
Seattle Seahawks
- Released: OL Isaiah Battle
New England Patriots
- Signed: DT Marcus Hardison
Chicago Bears
- Signed: LB Howard Jones
- Waived: TE Colin Thompson
Patriots Waive Ricky Jean-Francois
The Patriots’ pre-Week 13 roster rearrangement included more Ricky Jean-Francois transactions in what’s been a busy 2017 for the veteran defender.
New England waived Jean-Francois on Saturday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The Pats also cut offensive lineman Jason King. These moves will clear roster spots for defensive end Geneo Grissom and wide receiver Bernard Reedy, both of whom will join the 53-man roster from the Pats’ practice squad.
Three teams have now cut Jean-Francois in 2017. The Patriots acquired him after the Packers parted ways with him, with Jean-Francois only making his way to Green Bay after his Washington tenure concluded with an offseason release.
He’s now on waivers. The 31-year-old defensive lineman played in two games for the Patriots after seeing time in just one contest with the Packers this season. He has three tackles this year, one that’s featured far less participation compared to his age-30 campaign. Jean-Francois played in 16 Redskins games in 2016 and started in seven.
Reedy caught on with the Patriots’ practice squad last week after the Bucs ended his lengthy Tampa Bay stay earlier this month. Despite being with the Bucs since the 2015 season, the former 2014 UDFA only saw action in 2017. A 2015 third-round Pats pick, Grissom’s played in four games this season after serving as a backup presence for most of the 2015 and ’16 slates.