Patriots’ Cyrus Jones Likely Tore ACL
Patriots cornerback Cyrus Jones likely suffered a torn ACL in his right knee during their preseason finale against the Giants on Thursday, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald. Jones will undergo an MRI on Friday.
Having started in just one of 10 appearances and made seven tackles as a second-round rookie last year, the loss of Jones wouldn’t be an enormous blow to the Patriots’ defense. New England continues to boast Stephon Gilmore, Malcolm Butler, Eric Rowe and Justin Coleman as its top options at corner, leaving little room for Jones to make his mark defensively.
On the other hand, Jones’ absence would negatively affect the Pats’ special teams unit and could influence how Bill Belichick constructs their roster prior to the cutdown deadline on Saturday. Jones was in line to serve as New England’s No. 1 return man on both kicks and punts prior to Thursday, and a serious injury to him (on top of Julian Edelman‘s) would leave the club without an obvious in-house solution, Doug Kyed of NESN writes. The 23-year-old Jones combined for 19 kick and punt returns last season.
Patriots Waive Christian Kuntz
New England Patriots
Patriots, Bengals Complete Trade
With the 53-man deadline creeping up, the Bengals and Patriots have completed a trade. The deal will sent linebacker Marquis Flowers to New England in exchange for a seventh-round pick, according to Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer. 
The pending Vontaze Burfict suspension seemingly opened up a roster spot for Flowers, but that’s apparently not the case. Instead, the former sixth-round pick has been shipped off for some late-round draft capital in 2018.
The 25-year-old appeared in all 16 of the Bengals’ regular season games as a rookie in 2014, but he missed all of 2015 with a shoulder injury. Last year, he bounced back with another perfect attendance record, but he played primarily on special teams.
Owczarski now expects undrafted rookie free agent Hardy Nickerson to make the Bengals’ 53-man roster for Week 1.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/28/17
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: LS Taybor Pepper
Chicago Bears
- Signed: LS Jeff Overbaugh
- Waived/injured: Patrick Scales
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived: P Will Monday
Cleveland Browns
- Waived: OL Gabe Ikard
Denver Broncos
- Waived/injured: DL Jimmy Bean
Detroit Lions
- Released: WR Keshawn Martin, TE Tim Wright
Green Bay Packers
- Waived: LS Derek Hart, WR Colby Pearson, RB William Stanback
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: S Earl Wolff
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: LB Akeem Dent
- Waived from IR: CB Ezra Robinson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Released: LB Josh Mauga
Los Angeles Rams
- Waived: K Travis Coons
New England Patriots
- Signed: DL Michael Bart, LB Christian Kuntz, LB Nick Usher
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: LB Audie Cole
- Placed on IR: TE Clay Harbor
New York Giants
- Signed: DB Daniel Gray
- Placed on IR: OL Adam Gettis
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DE Mehdi Abdesmad, DL Hendrick Ekpe
- Waived: RB Blake Sims
- Placed on IR: Justin Trattou
Patriots May Look Outside Organization To Replace Edelman, Ealy
The Patriots waived/injured Matt Lengel earlier today, leading ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss to wonder whether the team will carry three tight ends heading into the regular season. Behind Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen, the team is now rostering third-year player James O’Shaughnessy and undrafted rookies Jacob Hollister and Sam Cotton. Reiss writes that O’Shaughnessy’s special teams prowess makes him the favorite for the third tight end spot, but he adds that Hollister did earn the praise of coach Bill Belichick. The Patriots also have fullback James Develin, who often spends time practicing with the tight ends.
Reiss also notes that the Patriots carried four tight ends heading into last season, but they whittled that number down to two following the A.J. Derby trade and release of Clay Harbor. Ultimately, the writer believes the team will carry a third tight end, but he warns that the organization could carry two as they look to keep an extra player elsewhere.
- The Patriots are more likely to make an external addition to replace Julian Edelman at wide receiver or Kony Ealy at defensive end than to give an incumbent player more snaps, as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes. Edelman is lost for the season after tearing his ACL over the weekend, while New England waived Ealy on Saturday. At wideout, specifically, Austin Carr and Devin Lucien are more likely to earn a spot on the Patriots’ practice squad than make the club’s 53-man roster, per Reiss.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/27/17
Today’s minor moves:
Cleveland Browns
- Placed on injured reserve: LB Tank Carder (torn ACL), OL Matt McCants
- Waived/injured: S Justin Currie
Detroit Lions
- Signed: DT Derrick Lott
- Placed on IR: DT Jordan Hill
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Waived from IR: CB Charles Gaines
New England Patriots
- Waived: DE Caleb Kidder
- Waived/injured: TE Matt Lengel
New York Giants
- Claimed off waviers: CB Tay Glover-Wright
- Waived from IR: DE Evan Schwan, WR Kevin Snead
New York Jets
- Waived/injured: DT Anthony Johnson
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: C Ruben Carter, WR Justin Thomas
- Waived/injured: CB Greg Ducre
Seattle Seahawks
- Waived from IR: TE Marcus Lucas
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Waived from IR: DB Maurice Fleming
Bill Belichick Discusses Kony Ealy Cut
- The Patriots cut Kony Ealy a week early in order to help the former Panthers defensive end catch on with his next team early, thus giving him a better shot to make an impact in 2017, Bill Belichick said. “I just think it’s one of those things that didn’t work out or wasn’t going to work out,” Belichick said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. “Nobody’s fault. He worked hard. We worked hard. A lot of effort put in, but in the end, we didn’t feel like this was going to work out. It gives him an opportunity about a week ahead of next week to hopefully create a better opportunity for himself.” Ealy will be placed on waivers.
Fallout From Julian Edelman Injury
Tom Brady offered hopes Julian Edelman could come back this season after the Patriots‘ third preseason game Friday night, but after the team confirmed earlier today the ninth-year wideout tore his right ACL, the Pats will have to adjust again. The team’s primary slot receiver post-Wes Welker, Edelman recorded a career-high 1,106 receiving yards last season and played in 16 games. Edelman missed nearly half the season in 2015, and Brady’s production dipped without his top volume target. The iconic quarterback’s completion rate plummeted from 68 percent in nine Edelman games to 60 percent in seven contests without him. But the Patriots, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, are deeper now and are expected to use a group effort to replace the 31-year-old receiver.
New England now employs Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan, along with second-year player Malcolm Mitchell and a slew of viable receiving backs. Danny Amendola served as Edelman’s primary replacement in 2015, and the veteran figures to be part of the solution two years later. Florio uses New England’s 2016 Super Bowl run as an example of the resourceful team winning without a key pass-catcher. While the Pats won Super Bowl LI without Rob Gronkowski‘s services down the stretch, it’s hard to bank on the all-world tight end being available throughout this now-Edelman-less season. That said, Gronkowski did play in 15 games in both 2014 and ’15. Brady’s only played one game without Gronk or Edelman — 2015 loss to the Eagles — since the pair became the Patriots’ top chain-movers four years ago.
Here’s the latest fallout from the injury situation.
- AFC execs and coaches concur with Florio’s assessment, to some degree. “They’ll find another way to do it. So initially, [it’ll hurt them] some, but in the end not much at all,” an AFC coach texted Albert Breer of SI.com. Another added: “Amendola will have to stay healthy and pick up the slack. It won’t be easy, but they’ll make it work.” The 31-year-old Amendola reworked his contract again this offseason to stay with the Pats in what is the final year of his deal. Amendola amassed 243 air yards last season. “Health of others is key,” an AFC exec said, via Breer. “Amendola and [Gronkowski] need to stay healthy, but their offense is diverse enough to pick it up.”
- Edelman will still make nearly $7MM this season, with Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (Twitter link) relaying that in addition to his $3MM base salary, the slot bastion collected $3.5MM of his signing bonus and $250K workout bonus. Edelman, though, will miss out on $750K in per-game roster bonuses and a possible $500K in incentives, via Volin (on Twitter).
- Anquan Boldin retired from the Bills last weekend and would be an intriguing fit if the 36-year-old pass-catcher could be convinced to delay his busy-looking post-career endeavors, but Volin tweets Buffalo placed Boldin on its reserve/retired list. The Bills hold his rights and would have to relinquish them to green-light a Boldin/Patriots future. Boldin also said a day after his retirement intentions surfaced he won’t make a late-season return, insisting he’s done with the game.
- Edelman will stick around Foxborough to do his rehab, Volin tweets, likely offering help to his replacements as they attempt to fill the void created by the absence of one of the game’s top slot targets.
Patriots WR Julian Edelman Tears ACL, Out For Season
An MRI today has confirmed what the Patriots were fearing. According to Albert Breer of the MMQB.com (via Twitter), wideout Julian Edelman has “a complete ACL tear in his right knee.” Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the receiver will miss the entire season.
The Patriots confirmed the tear, and Tom Curran of CSNNE.com tweets the team will place the ninth-year wide receiver on IR.
Edelman suffered the non-contact injury during the first quarter of last night’s preseason game against the Lions. The veteran was carted off the field after having already collected three catches for 52 yards. The 31-year-old has suffered a number of injuries during his career, as he’s missed nine regular season games since becoming a full-time starter in 2013. However, he’s yet to miss an entire season.
The receiver’s presumed absence from the offense shouldn’t be underestimated. Over the past four seasons, Edelman has averaged 133 targets, 89 receptions, 956 yards, and five touchdowns per year. He was a major part of the Super Bowl-winning squad last season, hauling in 98 catches for a career-high 1,106 yards. He was also a force in the postseason, collecting another 21 catches for 342 yards and one touchdown during the Patriots’ three-game run. Following the season, the Patriots inked the former seventh-round pick to a two-year, $11MM extension.
While losing Edelman will certainly hurt, the Patriots have plenty of depth to make up for his absence. The team acquired Brandin Cooks earlier this offseason, adding another 1,000-yard receiver to their talented corps. Chris Hogan, who finished last season with 680 yards and four scores, will presumably slide up to the Patriots’ second receiver spot. The team could also lean on veteran Danny Amendola or 2016 fourth-rounder Malcolm Mitchell to pick up some of Edelman’s targets.
Of course, the team is also expecting full health from tight end Rob Gronkowski, and they acquired Dwayne Allen to serve as a backup. There’s also running backs James White and Dion Lewis, who have proved to be dependable targets. If any vicarious roster move were to come out of the Edelman injury, it may be the addition of undrafted rookie wideout Austin Carr to the active squad. The Northwestern product has led the Patriots with 11 receptions for 105 yards this preseason, but the Patriots’ receiver depth put the rookie on the roster bubble.
Patriots To Cut Kony Ealy
Kony Ealy‘s New England stay does not look like it will make it to the six-month mark. The Patriots plan to cut Ealy, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.
Garafolo cited poor scheme-fit issues behind Ealy’s struggles. This will further thin out the Patriots’ defensive end corps, but Ealy wasn’t exactly flourishing to the point he was a surefire rotational player. This comes after New England examined the trade market for a potential deal.
Bill Belichick said before the Pats’ third preseason game on Friday the fourth-year defensive end was progressing, but the team will still pull the plug on the brief experiment.
“The last three weeks, he’s definitely on the upswing,” Belichick said of Ealy, via Mike Reiss (on Twitter). “He’s made solid progress for us.”
Having not yet become a vested veteran, the 25-year-old Ealy will be sent to waivers. This creates an interesting option for teams in need of some edge help.
Ealy joins Rob Ninkovich and third-round pick Derek Rivers in being removed from the 2017 Pats defensive end equation, Ninkovich retiring early in camp and Rivers being shelved by a season-ending injury. The Patriots let Jabaal Sheard and Chris Long walk in free agency. Trey Flowers, Lawrence Guy and fourth-rounder Deatrich Wise are three ends now at the top of the equation for the Patriots.
The Patriots and Panthers swapped draft picks, allowing Carolina to move up a mere eight spots, in the March Ealy deal. Ealy started 15 games for the Panthers over the past two seasons, and the former second-round pick out of Missouri is best known for his dominant outing in Super Bowl 50 when he recorded three sacks and an interception.