Redskins Place RB Rob Kelley On IR
Rob Kelley‘s season is over. The Redskins announced that the running back has been placed on injured reserve. As previously reported, Byron Marshall has been signed off of the Eagles’ practice squad to replace him. 
Kelley, the Redskins’ top running back, is dealing with a high ankle sprain and a sprained MCL in his left knee. There was initially some hope that Kelley could return to the lineup later this season with some rest. Unfortunately, it sounds like he’ll need a little longer to recover and the Redskins are not willing to have him occupy a spot on the 53-man roster until he heals up.
Even before the latest injury, Kelley wasn’t all that sharp this year. In seven games (all starts), Kelley has ran for just 194 yards off of 62 carries, giving him an average of 3.18 yards per carry. He was previously dealing with a rib injury, so it’s possible that he has not been near full strength all year.
In 2016, Kelley’s rookie year, he had 704 yards off of 168 carries (4.2 yards per attempt) with six touchdowns. He also added 12 catches for 82 yards and one score.
Without Kelley, the Redskins will be relying on Chris Thompson, rookie Samaje Perine, and Marshall to hold down the running game. Of course, the trade deadline has come and gone, so the Redskins will be limited to the free agent market if they want to make any further upgrades to the group.
Eagles To Sign OT Will Beatty
Will Beatty is back in the NFC East. The former Giants offensive lineman has agreed to a one-year deal with the Eagles, according to Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). 
Beatty was one of the league’s better left tackles in 2014, grading out both as a quality run-blocker and pass-blocker, according to Pro Football Focus. In that season, PFF ranked him 14th overall out of 84 qualified tackles. Unfortunately, a pectoral injury cost him the entire 2015 campaign. And, in 2016, Beatty appeared in only six games.
This year, he worked out for the Jets, Saints, and, most recently, the 49ers, but did not sign with any of those clubs. The Eagles are now going to find out what the veteran has left in the tank.
The Eagles’ offensive line recently suffered a big blow when Jason Peters suffered a season-ending knee injury. Halapoulivaati Vaitai is now the starter at left tackle with Lane Johnson on the opposite site. Beatty figures to serve as bench support for both players along with reserve Taylor Hart.
Beatty, a second-round pick in the 2009 draft, spent eight years with the G-Men, including his lost 2015 season.
Latest On Patriots, Martellus Bennett
Martellus Bennett‘s unusual exit from the Packers and reunion with the Patriots raised some eyebrows in the football world. However, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart says the league office does not have any issues with how things played out (Twitter link via Ben Volin of The Boston Globe). 
The Packers signed Bennett to a lucrative multi-year deal with the expectation that he would be a big, steady target for Aaron Rodgers in the red zone. Instead, Bennett never clicked with the Packers offense, perhaps due in part to his torn rotator cuff. After he intimated that he would retire after the 2017 season, the Packers released Bennett, opening the door for him to be claimed by his former team. It doesn’t take an Alex Jones-level conspiracy theorist to question whether Bennett might have orchestrated his own return to New England, but the commissioner’s office doesn’t share that same skepticism.
After he was cut loose, Bennett instructed his agent to inform interested teams that he might not be able to play due to his injured shoulder. Then, on Sunday, Bennett was on the field for seven snaps and caught three balls for 38 yards. He looked rather healthy in the 41-16 romp over Denver, and that didn’t help to quiet speculation about a potential pre-release arrangement between Bennett and the Patriots.
It’s a closed case in the eyes of the NFL, but the Packers may still go after a portion of Bennett’s signing bonus.
Latest On Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones
Reports that the league’s owners could force Jerry Jones to sell the Cowboys are “”laughable and ridiculous,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan (transcription via Kate Hairopolos of the Dallas Morning News). 
“I’ve had not one, not one, inkling of communication from the league office or any owner that would suggest something that laughable and ridiculous, and that’s about where that is,” Jones said on his radio show on Tuesday. “If somebody is asserting that then they are not knowledgeable about how things work in the NFL.”
The notion that Jones could be forced to part ways with the Cowboys does seem pretty far fetched. However, the league’s owners could move to bring other sanctions against Jones for his crusade against commissioner Roger Goodell. Among the measures being discussed are fines, a suspension, or a loss of draft capital for the Cowboys, Mark Maske of The Washington Post (Twitter link) hears. Maske’s sources did not mention a scenario in which Jones is made to sell the Cowboys, however. It’s also not a given that Jones will be penalized at all, though it is at least being talked about.
For his part, Jones feels that the league’s owners have “all the time in the world” to extend Goodell and he doesn’t want the deal to be completed in haste given that the commissioner still has 18 months left on his current contract. The Cowboys owner asserts that more than half of the league’s owners are in his corner on this matter.
Browns’ Jamie Collins Done For Season
Browns linebacker Jamie Collins is done for the season with a torn MCL, coach Hue Jackson announced. Collins has officially been placed on the injured reserve list, per a team announcement. 
Collins was injured after pulling down his first interception of the season in the first quarter of action. Although he was able to walk off of the field under his own power, doctors diagnosed him with an MCL injury after the game. Today, he was informed that the tear was severe and would require several months of rest.
Collins, 27, re-signed with the Browns this offseason on a four-year, $50MM contract. At the time, the former Patriot probably had higher hopes for the Browns rebuild. After yesterday’s loss, the Browns have now sank to 0-9 on the year.
The linebacker’s season ends with 31 total tackles, one interception, one sack, one forced fumble, and three pass deflections.
For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus has him rated as one of the worst qualified linebackers in the NFL this year with a 35.9 overall score. He had a similarly disappointing 47.6 mark last year, a major drop from his work with the Pats in ’14 and ’15.
Seahawks To Sign CB Byron Maxwell
The Seahawks are signing cornerback Byron Maxwell, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’s a one-year deal for the veteran. 
The deal brings Maxwell back to where he played his best football. His lucrative free agent deal turned out to be a mistake for the Eagles and the Dolphins couldn’t get much out of him post-trade, but he might be able to recapture some of his old magic with a return to Seattle. He’ll also have a huge opportunity to shine after Richard Sherman suffered a season-ending Achilles tear.
Coaches in Miami believed that Maxwell was going rogue and refusing to play the defenses called from the sidelines. That could indicate that Maxwell – now a much richer man than he was in 2014 – had lost motivation. It could also signal that he has lost a step and is no longer able to play press-man coverage against speedier receivers.
Before signing with Seattle, Maxwell also auditioned for the Falcons earlier this month.
Giants To Stick With Ben McAdoo For Now
It sounds like Ben McAdoo‘s job is safe. At least, until the end of the season. Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch released a statement on Monday afternoon that seems to indicate the team will not consider a coaching change until the year is through. 
“Ben McAdoo is our head coach and has our support. We are in the midst of an extremely disappointing season. Our performance this year, particularly the past two weeks, is inexcusable and frustrating. While we appreciate that our fans are unhappy with what has occurred, nobody is more upset than we are.
Our plan is to do what we have always done, which is to not offer a running commentary on the season. It is our responsibility to determine the reasons for our poor performance and at the end of the year, we will evaluate the 2017 season in its entirety and make a determination on how we move forward.”
The Giants fell to 1-8 after allowing the Niners to capture their first win of the season on Sunday. One could argue that the Giants fell out of the playoff race when Odell Beckham Jr. suffered his season-ending injury, but the problems appear to run much deeper. Players have been insolent and some have even spoken out against McAdoo anonymously.
It would be a surprise if McAdoo returns as head coach in 2018, but it would be equally surprising to see him sacked in the middle of the season after today’s comments.
Steelers CB Joe Haden Has Broken Fibula
Steelers cornerback Joe Haden suffered a broken fibula in today’s victory over the Colts and will be sidelined indefinitely, head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters, including Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). However, Haden only has a “slight” fracture in his leg, and should be able to return following a three-week absence, tweets Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
While the most recent news on Haden’s status is positive, his loss will be felt in the Steelers’ secondary no matter how long he’s out. Haden, who agreed to a three-year deal with Pittsburgh after being released by the Browns earlier this year, has played nearly every defensive snap for the Steelers in 2017 while grading as the league’s No. 33 cornerback among 117 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. The 28-year-old Haden has been excellent while defending mostly deep passes, as he ranks fourth in average air yards of passes against, according to Football Outsiders.
With Haden unavailable, the Steelers will likely turn to veteran William Gay to start on the outside opposite Artie Burns, with Mike Hilton remaining in the slot. Coty Sensabaugh, who has yet to play a single defensive snap, could also see more time on defense, while rookie Cameron Sutton — who is close to returning from injured reserve — may contribute down the stretch.
If Pittsburgh wants to look outside the organization for another defensive back, Vontae Davis — recently cut by the Colts — could be one option. Contending teams are reportedly interested in adding Davis for the stretch run, and while the Steelers aren’t known to have contacted Davis, they’d make sense as a potential suitor. Of course, Davis’ injury status and poor play could dissuade general manager Kevin Colbert from inking the veteran.
Latest On Roger Goodell’s Contract, Jerry Jones’ Opposition
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that the league’s Compensation Committee will hold a conference call tomorrow to discuss commissioner Roger Goodell‘s contract extension and Goodell’s latest counterproposal requesting a $50MM salary as well as the lifetime use of a private jet and lifetime health insurance for his family. This comes on the heels of a story from Peter King of TheMMQB that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to “overthrow” Goodell.
Jones has done his best to hold up an extension for Goodell, which was supposed to be finalized in August. While the general assumption is that Jones became angry with Goodell for the commissioner’s suspension of Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott, Jones himself has said that is not the case, and that his problems with Goodell’s contract extension as currently constructed has less to do with the commissioner and more with the power of the position he holds.
King’s report is largely in accord with Jones’ assertions. King says Jones is right in that Goodell’s current contract, which pays him around $35MM annually with no performance aspect to it, is “excessive bordering on avaricious.” Furthermore, Jones contends that even if the current proposed contract for Goodell is approved — a contract that will make 88% of Goodell’s compensation incentive-based — the vague parameters of the incentives will allow Goodell to earn the same salary he has been earning anyway, regardless of the overall performance of the league. So, while Elliott’s suspension may have plenty to do with Jones’ discontent, it is not the only basis for it (Jones is also displeased with the fact that Goodell seems generally “suspension-happy”).
As such, Jones threatened to sue the league in a November 2 conference call, a threat that understandably rankled his fellow owners. King points out that Jones has taken unpopular stances before, and has ultimately prevailed, but this time, he does not have many partners in his struggle to overthrow the current way of doing business in the NFL. Indeed, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes, Jones is losing credibility with, and influence over, other owners. Although Schefter’s report indicates that other owners are displeased with the outlandishness of Goodell’s most recent demands, it does not sound as if Goodell will walk away on his own, and it is similarly unlikely that there will be enough owners to force him out.
Interestingly, La Canfora notes in a separate piece that Goodell’s confidants and advisers are urging him to simply sign the proposed contract now and put the matter behind him, but King says there is not presently a contract to sign. King reports that the Compensation Committee and Goodell are still cleaning up a few points that go beyond mere formalities — like the private jet, for instance? — and that it could be a couple of weeks before Goodell can put pen to paper.
Presumably, tomorrow’s conference call will lend a little more clarity to this story. As of right now, though, it still seems as if Jones is waging a war that he is unlikely to win, and that Goodell will remain the league’s commissioner for the long haul (while being handsomely compensated for his efforts, even if a jet is not a part of the package).
Contending Teams Interested In Vontae Davis
A number of teams, including two who are in playoff contention, have reached out to former Colts cornerback Vontae Davis to express interest in bringing him aboard for a playoff run, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports.
After a strange couple of weeks for the veteran defensive back, he was released by Indianapolis a few days ago due to a lingering groin issue and has elected to undergo surgery that will sideline him for six to eight weeks. Davis is reportedly unsure as to how quickly he will be ready to suit up after the surgery, though he does remain open to the possibility of playing again this season for a playoff club.
The interested teams clearly think that the groin issue, moreso than age or general decline, is to blame for Davis’ mediocre performance over the past season-and-a-half. He currently rates as the NFL’s No. 94 cornerback out of 117 qualifiers, according to Pro Football Focus, and last year, PFF had Davis as one of the ten worst qualified corners in the league. That represents a major drop for a player who earned an excellent 95.1 overall score in 2014 and followed it up with a strong 81.9 mark in ’15.
Nonetheless, if the surgery can help him return to something close to his former self, he could be a strong addition to a playoff team. Although Schefter did not name the clubs that have reached out to Davis, the Seahawks, who recently lost Richard Sherman for the year, would be a logical destination.