Browns Place OT Joe Thomas On IR
Browns stalwart left tackle Joe Thomas suffered a torn triceps in Sunday’s loss to the Titans and will miss the remainder of the season, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) was the first to report Thomas had likely torn his triceps. The Browns have since placed Thomas on injured reserve.
Thomas, 32, had not missed a single offensive snap since entering the league as a first-round pick in 2007. That streak is now over at 10,363, but that figure stands as a testament to Thomas’ amazing consistency and resiliency. And Thomas, a nine-time All Pro, hasn’t yet hit a decline, as Pro Football Focus ranked him as the No. 3 offensive tackle in the league through seven weeks.
The winless Browns turned to Spencer Drango to replace Thomas on Sunday, making the 2016 fifth-round selection the first player other than Thomas to man left tackle in Cleveland since 2006. Drango will presumably continue on the blindside for Cleveland — which ranks a mediocre 18th in both adjusted line yards and adjusted sack rate — but the Browns could also conceivably take a look at fellow tackle Zach Banner, a fourth-round rookie whom Cleveland acquired off waivers from Indianapolis.
With Thomas done for the year, any chance of the Browns reaping draft pick compensation for him via trade is eliminated. Cleveland reportedly had “no intention” of dealing Thomas, who has been oft-mentioned in trade rumors given the Browns’ lack of success on the field and his status as the club’s best player, and Thomas’ health questions would render any theoretical discussions moot. Thomas is signed through the 2018 season, and has a $8.8MM base salary on the books for next season.
Texans OT Duane Brown Ends Holdout
Texans offensive tackle Duane Brown has ended his holdout and reported to the club, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
Brown, 32, hasn’t played a single game for Houston this season as he continues to push for a new contract. His decision to rejoin the Texans doesn’t necessarily mean the team’s front office has decided to cave on a new deal, and in fact there’s no indication that’s the case. Instead, Brown is likely reporting in order to gain credit for the 2017 season, as he needed to appear in eight games to do so.
Presuming that he’s ready to immediately step in at left tackle, Brown should provide a significant upgrade on the blindside. Houston has turned to Chris Clark (five starts) in Brown’s absence, but he’s offered a sub-par performance thus far, Pro Football Focus ranks Clark as just the No. 52 tackle among 71 qualifiers. While the Texans’ offensive line has played well in the run game, the unit is 31st in adjusted rack rate, according to Football Outsiders.
If the Texans are intent on not reaching a new deal with Brown, they could conceivably still trade him, something the club is reportedly open to doing. Cleveland currently owns Houston’s first- and second-round picks in 2018, so shipping Brown for draft capital could help the Texans recoup some of its lost assets. The Seahawks, notably, have been linked to a potential Brown acquisition.
But “barring the unforeseen,” Brown is set to play for the Texans, and not act as trade bait, tweets Rapoport. His return is coming at a fortuitous time, as Clark is now expected to miss a week or two after suffering a calf injury, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
NFL’s Request For Expedited Ezekiel Elliott Hearing Denied
A judge has denied the NFL’s request for an expedited hearing in Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott‘s suspension case, according to legal analyst Daniel Wallach (Twitter link). The league had been pushing for an October 27 hearing, but the case will instead be heard on October 30 as originally planned.
The most immediate impact of Judge Katherine Failla is that Elliott will be available to play in Dallas’ Week 8 contest against the Redskins, which takes place just one day before the October 30 hearing date. That’s an incredibly important NFC East matchup, especially given that the Cowboys now sit at 3-3 after Sunday’s thrashing of the 49ers (Washington, meanwhile, is 3-2 pending the result of Monday Night Football).
Following that game, Elliott and his team will take his case to Failla. Elliott, of course, is facing a six-game suspension stemming from domestic violence allegations, but last week was granted a temporary restraining order against the NFL that allowed him to stay on the field. If Ellliott’s ban sticks after Week 8, he would miss critical games against the Falcons, Chiefs, Eagles, and Redskins, and wouldn’t be able to return until Week 15.
Elliott is fresh off his best performance of the season, as he totaled 219 yards from scrimmage and scored three times against San Francisco. If Elliott is suspended, the Cowboys would likely turn to a combination of Alfred Morris and Darren McFadden in the backfield.
Colts’ Malik Hooker Out For Year
Malik Hooker‘s season is already over. The Colts safety suffered a torn ACL and MCL in Sunday’s loss to Jacksonville, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) reports.
The first round rookie was off to a strong start this year. Heading into this weekend, he was ranked as a top-35 safety by the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus. He also proved to have a nose for the ball with a team-leading three interceptions.
The No. 15 overall pick is no stranger to injuries, unfortunately. In January, he underwent operations to fix a torn labrum and address a hernia issue. Still, he was viewed as a high-end pick despite the health concerns. In his final year at Ohio State, Hooker racked up 74 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss, and an eye-popping seven picks. Some talent evaluators even preferred Hooker to LSU safety Jamal Adams who went nine picks earlier to the Jets.
“[He’s] still so raw and you see him making all of those plays. He’s a player who will come in and look bad his first year and then be an all-pro by his third year. I think that’s his arc. No short-cut for experience,” one AFC personnel director told Lance Zierlein of NFL.com before the draft.
Turns out, Hooker looked great in his first NFL season, but his frosh campaign in the pros has ended prematurely. He’ll look to build off of his hot start in 2018.
Carson Palmer To Miss Eight Weeks
Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer will undergo surgery after suffering a broken left arm in today’s game and will be sidelined for eight weeks, head coach Bruce Arians told reporters, including Craig Grialou of 98.7 FM (Twitter link).
Palmer will likely be placed on injured reserve in the coming days, and given the timeline of his injury, he could miss the remainder of the season. The NFL’s IR rules require a minimum absence of eight weeks, meaning Palmer could return for Week 16. But given Arizona’s current standing — the club is now 3-4, and had only a 2% chance of earning a postseason berth before today’s shutout loss to the Rams — the Cardinals may simply opt to shut Palmer down for the year.
Palmer, who will turn 38 years old in December, has flirted with retirement in the past, so it’s entirely possible that today’s injury represents the end of his 14-year NFL career. While Palmer hasn’t replicated his 2015 MVP-level performance this season, he’s been an above-average quarterback, as his 2017 quarterback rating, completion percentage, and yards per attempt average have been in line with his career norms. Palmer is signed through 2018, and is scheduled to earn a non-guaranteed $12.5MM base salary next season.
With Palmer out of the picture, the Cardinals will turn to Drew Stanton as their new starting quarterback. Stanton wasn’t effective on Sunday, as he completed only five of 14 attempts for 62 yards and one interception. However, entering a losing contest midway through is never an easy task, and Stanton will now get two weeks (Arizona is on bye in Week 8) to prepare before taking on the 49ers in November 5 road game.
Stanton will be the Cardinals’ starter, and he’ll be backed up by former first-round pick Blaine Gabbert, who’s been inactive for every game this season after inking a one-year pact in the spring. Arizona doesn’t currently have a quarterback on its practice squad, but the club could conceivably consider an addition in the coming days.
Texans Open To Trading LT Duane Brown
The Texans are “willing to consider” trade offers for left tackle Duane Brown, who is currently engaged in a contractual holdout, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Brown, who has missed the entirety of the 2017 season in search of a new deal, is reportedly an option for the offensive line-needy Seahawks, who have also been in negotiations with free agent tackle Branden Albert in recent weeks. Whether or not other clubs have been or will be in touch with Houston regarding Brown’s availability is unclear, but the Texans are open to recouping some of the 2018 draft pick capital they’ve already traded away (Cleveland owns Houston’s first- and second-round picks in next year’s draft).
Brown, who is due $9.65MM and $9.75MM over the next two respective campaigns, doesn’t seem any close to working out a new pact with the Texans. In late September, Florio reported there was “no end in sight” between Brown and Houston, while Florio indicated last week that nothing had changed between the two sides.
Houston has turned to Chris Clark (five starts) in the wake of Clark’s absence, but he’s offered a sub-par performance thus far, Pro Football Focus ranks Clark as just the No. 52 tackle among 71 qualifiers. While the Texans’ offensive line has played well in the run game, the unit is 31st in adjusted rack rate, according to Football Outsiders.
Leonard Fournette To Miss Week 7
Jaguars star RB Leonard Fournette will miss the team’s Week 7 matchup against the Colts this afternoon due to an ankle injury, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Chris Ivory will get the nod in Fournette’s absence.
Fournette, whom the Jaguars selected with the fourth overall pick of this year’s draft, has not disappointed in his rookie campaign. As the focal point of the team’s offense (and opposing teams’ game plans), the LSU product is averaging a shade under 100 yards per game on the ground, to go along with a 4.6 YPC average. He has rumbled for six touchdowns on the ground and has added a receiving touchdown as well (he is averaging 22.7 yards per game through the air).
The Jaguars have looked like perhaps the best team in football some weeks and the worst in others, but they are still tied for first place in the wide open AFC South, and Fournette is arguably the biggest reason for their status as legitimate division title contenders.
Christ Mortensen of ESPN.com tweets that Fournette was pushing to play today, but team doctors did not feel comfortable with that after examining Fournette this morning. Jacksonville does have a bye next week, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) suggests Fournette will be ready to go in Week 9.
Latest On Roger Goodell Extension, League Meetings
It seems inevitable that Roger Goodell is going to receive an extension at some point in the near future. The extension was supposed to be finalized back in August, but since then, it was reported that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — the de facto seventh member of the league’s compensation committee — was holding up the works as a sort of payback for the Ezekiel Elliott saga, and we also learned that part of the hangup was the amount of severance Goodell would receive in the event that he is fired.
Now, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that completion of the extension has been slowed by debate over NFL player protests during the national anthem. Schefter says the deal is still expected to be completed and has been papered, but the league’s attention to the contract and other league business has been diverted by the anthem issue, according to Schefter’s sources. Schefter adds that no topic received as much attention during last week’s meetings as the anthem.
Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com, though, hears just the opposite. Breer says last Tuesday’s meeting between a group of 13 players and 11 owners, plus Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith included very little talk on the anthem, and the meeting among all league owners later in the day was similarly devoid of anthem-related conversation. Instead, the meetings focused on issues like a multifaceted effort to support the social causes important to players, and 49ers CEO Jed York told Breer, “in the long run, I think you’ll see a really, really strong platform and initiative where we have several weeks of the season that are dedicated to socioeconomic and racial causes.”
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says owners and players will meet again next week to discuss social issues, but the anthem will not be part of the conversation. It seems that the players know the anthem protests have helped to shed light on topics they truly want to discuss, and now both the owners and the players are focused on those topics rather than the protests themselves. Indeed, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes, Jones is the only owner who is still criticizing the protests.
So if what Breer and Rapoport say is true, then perhaps Schefter’s report is simply stylized incorrectly. The anthem discussions are not holding up Goodell’s extension, it is discussions about other issues that the anthem protests have raised. In any event, it looks as though Goodell’s new deal will get done soon, and the league will have stability in the commissioner role as it heads into the allegedly inevitable lockout following the 2020 season. Perhaps more importantly, the league and its players are apparently on the same page (mostly) with respect to generating attention for social issues that are important to the players.
Latest On Andrew Luck
Another week, another report on Andrew Luck from Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. Luck, of course, suffered a setback in his recovery this week, so instead of practicing, the Colts’ franchise quarterback will cease all football activities for the time being.
That leads to the obvious question of whether the 2-4 Colts should just shut Luck down and call it a day. But they are just one game back in the AFC South standings, and La Canfora says Indianapolis is committed to seeing Luck play at some point this season if his health allows (and, presumably, if the team still has a chance at a playoff berth, though La Canfora suggests the Colts want to play Luck even if they are out of contention).
La Canfora adds that the setback is not considered particularly serious. It is not uncommon for a quarterback recovering from shoulder surgery to plateau as Luck did, it just means that his potential return will be pushed back. When he does return to the practice field, he will need to go through several weeks of throwing on a limited basis before being able to throw on consecutive days and being integrated back into the offense.
All of that means that Luck will most likely not suit up until November 26 at the earliest, with a December return more likely. Until then, Jacoby Brissett will continue to start under center.
Latest On Aaron Rodgers
It appears we have conflicting reports on Aaron Rodgers‘ chances to return in 2017. We heard several days ago that the Packers were still hopeful for a Rodgers return, which would be Week 15 at the earliest, and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com hears that Rodgers could resume throwing in as little as six weeks. If he does, he could return near the end of the regular season, assuming Green Bay is still pushing for a playoff spot or playoff seeding at that point.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, however, says the Packers do not anticipate and are not planning for a Rodgers return at the end of the season. Green Bay can bring back up to two players on injured reserve, and Rapoport reports that the team is more likely to designate offensive linemen Jason Spriggs and Don Barclay than Rodgers.
Of course, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets, the Packers are holding out hope that Rodgers can return, but it will be weeks before they have a better idea and there is a good chance he will be sidelined for the remainder of the year.
Assuming Rodgers does not come back, Brett Hundley will get the chance to run the show for the duration of 2017. Head coach Mike McCarthy recently indicated that the Packers have no intention of adding a veteran quarterback to the mix, but the club did sign undrafted rookie Jerod Evans to its practice squad earlier this week.