Today’s minor moves:
Los Angeles Rams
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Vikings wide receiver Stacy Coley was claimed off waivers by the Giants, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Coley was waived by the Vikings on Tuesday and the Giants, using their high waiver priority, jumped at the chance to add him to the roster.
Giants coach Pat Shurmur is extremely familiar with Coley’s skillsets after coaching the former seventh-round pick in Minnesota. Coley barely saw the field in 2017 (and was not in the mix for the Vikings’ first two games of 2018, either), but Shurmur has seen Coley show off his smooth running skills in practice. Some scouts questioned Coley’s passion for the game heading into the 2017 draft, but Shurmur believes that he can get the University of Miami product to harness his talent.
In a related move, the Giants have waived fullback Shane Smith. Smith blew blocking assignments in the Giants’ loss to the Cowboys over the weekend, causing the team to replace him with Elijhaa Penny.
The Giants are signing fullback Elijhaa Penny off the Cardinals’ practice squad, a source tells Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The move comes after Giants fullback Shane Smith struggled badly on Sunday night, so Smith’s time with the G-Men could be coming to an end. 
Penny, a 25-year-old running back/fullback, appeared in all 16 games for Arizona last year. He finished out with 31 carries for 124 yards (a 4.0 yards-per-carry average in a small sample) and added four catches for 38 yards. Penny did not make the Cardinals’ final cut this year, but he was signed to their practice squad after clearing waivers.
The Giants fell to 0-2 after losing to the Cowboys on Sunday. They’ll look to get into the win column this weekend when they face the Texans in Houston.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Giants center Jon Halapio will miss the remainder of the 2018 season after fracturing his lower leg and ankle Sunday, the club announced today.
New York addressed its offensive line this offseason by adding free agent Nate Solder at left tackle and draft pick Will Hernandez at left guard, but the unit hasn’t looked improved through two games (both losses). Losing Halapio will be a further blow to the front five’s continuity as the club looks to rebound from its early-season struggles.
Having traded Brett Jones (who started 13 games at center in 2017) earlier this year, the Giants will have to look elsewhere to replace Halapio. While undrafted rookie Evan Brown is listed as Halapio’s direct backup, veteran Spencer Pulley might be a more realistic candidate to take over at the pivot. Pulley, whom New York acquired off waivers earlier this month, started all 16 games at center for the Chargers last season. John Greco took over for Halapio on Sunday, so he’s another option to fill in at center.
For Halapio, his injury represents a devastating turn for a journeyman who had finally secured a starting job. Halapio, 27, bounced around the league after being drafted in 2014, but had overtaken Jones this summer to become the Giants’ starting center. He’ll be an exclusive rights free agent in 2019, so New York will be able to easily retain him.
One of the most talked about storylines of the 2018 NFL offseason was what the Giants would do with the second overall pick. Many thought they would take a quarterback to succeed Eli Manning in New York, but the team opted for running back Saquon Barkley instead. Tyler Dunne of Bleacher Report is out with a new feature on Manning and the Giants where he writes about Manning’s determination to prove the Giants didn’t make a mistake.
While he writes “the decision to stick with Manning could go down as one of the worst blunders in NFL history” due to the high-level quarterbacks, like Sam Darnold, available at number two in this year’s draft, Manning still believes he’s got a lot left in the tank. Manning said he’s entirely focused on proving to the Giants that “they did make the right decision” and that he has one last title run left in him. The full piece is full of juicy tidbits and well worth a read to get a look inside the 2018 Giants and the last few tumultuous years for one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in recent memory.
Here’s more from around the league:
Aaron Rodgers will enter Sunday with a questionable designation on the Packers‘ injury report. The two-time MVP can improve his chances of playing, obviously, by practicing Saturday — when the Packers do more than the typical walkthrough — but not doing so won’t prevent him from playing. Mike McCarthy said he’d have no issues deploying Rodgers even if he doesn’t practice all week, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. The 13th-year Green Bay coach said his quarterback feels better than he did at the beginning of the week. Despite Rodgers’ performance on Sunday against the Bears and his history of playing through left knee pain, he’s not a lock to face the Vikings.
Here’s the latest from the NFC’s injury situations.
Here are Thursday’s practice squad moves.
Buffalo Bills
Denver Broncos
Indianapolis Colts
New York Giants
New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks
Today’s practice squad transactions:
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Tennessee Titans
Here are Friday’s minor moves:
Jacksonville Jaguars
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Seattle Seahawks