Danny Trevathan Suspended Two Games
The NFL’s review of Danny Trevathan‘s violent hit on Davante Adams resulted in the league suspending the Bears linebacker for two games.
Trevathan was penalized for the hit on Adams, one that sent the Packers wide receiver to the hospital, and he will miss time because of it. This is Trevathan’s first NFL suspension.
The sixth-year linebacker will have a chance to appeal, with the Bears’ next game not coming until next Sunday, and ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano tweets an appeal will be expected within three days. Either Derrick Brooks or James Thrash will hear Trevathan’s appeal, which the linebacker will do, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Thrash reduced Vontaze Burfict‘s suspension from five games to three, leading to the Bengals linebacker being set to debut Sunday.
NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan made the call to suspend Trevathan because of the “excessive” nature of the hit, a helmet-to-helmet blow that came after Adams’ progress was stopped as two other Bears were in on the tackle.
Should an appeal be denied, the 27-year-old inside ‘backer won’t be able to return to the Bears until Monday, Oct. 16. This suspension will leave the Bears without either of their preferred starting inside linebackers, with Jerrell Freeman already on IR. A third linebacker, Nick Kwiatkoski, also suffered an injury early this season, continuing Chicago’s health woes thus far in 2017.
Trevathan, who signed with the Bears last year after starting for John Fox in Denver as well, missed extensive time this offseason with a knee injury. He missed seven games during his first season with the Bears.
Cardinals To Place Mike Iupati On IR
The Cardinals will place Mike Iupati on IR because of bone spurs in the starting guard’s elbow, Bruce Arians said (via Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com, on Twitter).
Iupati has been out since Week 1 with this malady but will miss extensive time now, and this could end his season. The 30-year-old left guard will miss at least eight more weeks as a result of this decision. Iupati will undergo surgery to address this problem, and the Cardinals are short on guards right now. And offensive line is reeling.
Arians added Alex Boone will miss “a couple weeks” with a chest injury suffered Monday night. Arians, via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter), didn’t seem to point to left tackle D.J. Humphries playing Sunday either.
The Iupati decision also complicates matters for the Cardinals regarding how they will manage their roster this season.
David Johnson already resides on IR with a wrist injury, and although it could be December before he’s ready to come back, the All-Pro running back profiles as an obvious IR-return candidate — especially if the team is contending for a playoff spot. As of now, Iupati would stand to occupy Arizona’s other IR-boomerang slot, but given that the Cards haven’t played their fourth game, it would be too early to proclaim their IR-return decisions set.
However, Iupati and Johnson profile as key players who would fit the bill over just about anyone else who would venture onto IR with an injury that could heal in time for late-season contributions. A four-time Pro Bowler and one-time first-team All-Pro with the 49ers, Iupati signed with the Cardinals last year and played 15 games. This will mark the first season he’s played fewer than 12. And in six of Iupati’s seven full NFL seasons, he’s suited up and started at least 13 games.
John Wetzel and rookie Will Holden would be options to replace Humphries at tackle, while rookie Dorian Johnson is an option be promoted from the practice squad. Arians said a roster move will be made to address the depth up front.
NFL Not Discussing Ezekiel Elliott Settlement
The NFL has not discussed a possible settlement with Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott‘s attorneys, according to Tom Pelisserio of NFL.com (Twitter link).
Elliott, who is facing a six-game suspension stemming from domestic violence allegations, will be uniform when Dallas faces the Rams on Sunday, as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will begin deliberations the following Monday. A three-judge panel — one that holds a pro-business view that could favor the NFL, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk — will decide whether Elliot’s injunction against the league was filed within the correct jurisdiction.
The NFL will essentially argue that Elliott’s case was the “wrong suit in the wrong court at the wrong time,” tweets David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. If the court rules from the bench (something a source tells Florio to expect) and dismisses the injunction, the case will be sent to New York federal court, where the league already filed a lawsuit.
Elliott, for his part, is reportedly not willing to accept any settlement that would involve accepting any blame. The NFL, meanwhile, won’t absolve him, so there is apparently no middle ground where an agreement could be struck.
Montreal Als Reach Out To Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick is still without an NFL job as we head into October, but the team holding his rights in Canada has reached out to him him. Montreal Alouettes GM Kavis Reed says that he has spoken with Kaepernick’s agent, as Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette writes. However, the team has not invited Kaepernick to Montreal for a visit or workout yet. 
“He’s in the midst of some very important things,” Reed said. “We understand there’s a movement going on around him. We’re doing our due diligence and making certain they know we want to see where he’s at. It’s a matter of kicking the tires at this stage. To me, he’s a very good player. Take all the movement stuff aside. He’s a young man that we feel has a very good football IQ. He has taken a team to a championship level. The talent’s there. As a GM, you have to look at the talent. It’s incumbent on us to explore it.”
Kaepernick only recently reaffirmed his desire to play in the NFL and there has been no indication that he would consider playing in the CFL at this time. There’s also not much time left in the CFL’s season, so the odds of him going north of the border this year aren’t great.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats once held Kaepernick’s negotiation rights, but they were recently transferred to the Als. The Ti-Cats still hold the rights to quarterbacks Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III, however.
Kaepernick will turn 30 on Nov. 3.
Photo via Pro Football Rumors on Instagram.
Johnny Manziel Won’t Play In CFL This Year
We won’t be seeing the birth of Johnny Canadian Football. At least, not this year. Johnny Manziel has been barred from playing in the CFL in 2017, the league’s commissioner announced on Wednesday. 
“After an extensive process of due diligence and an in-person meeting with Mr. Manziel, the Commissioner has decided that he will not register any contract for Mr. Manziel for this season,” said the league in a statement. “However, Mr. Manziel will be eligible to sign a contract for the 2018 season and, if Mr. Manziel meets certain conditions that have been spelled out by the Commissioner, the CFL will register that contract. The specifics of those conditions are confidential and will not be disclosed. The CFL has extended the stay on the expiry of the 10-day window for Mr. Manziel until Nov. 30, 2017 and therefore Mr. Manziel will remain on Hamilton’s negotiation list until that date.”
Recently, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats worked out Manziel and, depending on who you ask, they may have had some interest in signing the controversial quarterback. The Ti-Cats have Manziel on their 45-man negotiation list, but the league will not green light a signing until next year.
Moments after the league rendered its decision, Manziel issued a statement of his own:
“I recently had a really positive meeting with Commissioner Randy Ambrosie and welcomed the chance for us to get to know each other and have an in-depth talk about a possible future with the CFL. I love this game and want to be back on the field in a situation where I can help a franchise in the long term. Over the past months, my agent helped me vet all of my options for playing, figuring out where I could be most effective and get back to having the most fun with the game I love. I’m ready to play today, but we all agreed with the Commissioner that it made no sense for me to join a team with only a month left in the season – it wouldn’t have been fair to my teammates, coaches or the fan base. I want to come into a team and earn my job day one, like everyone else. I look forward to preparing myself as best I can and look forward to what the future holds.”
Manziel, 25 in December, hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2015 campaign. In eight career starts for the Browns, the former first-round choice completed 57% of his passes for 1,675 yards, seven touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
Dolphins Reinstate LB Lawrence Timmons
Dolphins linebacker Lawrence Timmons has been reinstated by the team, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link) has learned. With his suspension lifted, he will play on Sunday versus the Saints. 
Timmons went AWOL prior to Miami’s Week 2 contest and was suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. At the time of the ban, the Dolphins gave little indication as to whether Timmons would ever be able to rejoin the squad. We later learned that Timmons left the team in L.A. to visit the mother of his child in Pennsylvania. He did not notify the team of his plans beforehand.
Timmons reportedly visited the Steelers (his former team) during Miami’s Week 1 bye and watched the club practice. We don’t know exactly what is going on with the veteran, but it sounds like homesickness is at least part of it.
The Dolphins managed to beat the Chargers without Timmons in Week 2, but they lost to the Jets on Sunday. Miami will look to get back on the right track this weekend against the Saints in London, England.
Miami signed Timmons to a two-year, $12MM deal in the offseason. In 2016, he racked up 114 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and two interceptions for the Steelers. When he went AWOL in Week 2, he missed his first game since 2009.
Trent Richardson Signs With CFL Team
The CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed running back Trent Richardson, as Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. The former first-round pick has not played in an NFL game since 2014. 
Last summer, Richardson vowed to turn over a new leaf and embark on an unprecedented comeback path that would end with his induction in the Hall of Fame. Those plans hit a snag when Richardson was released by the Ravens in August and arrested in February of this year.
The CFL’s league office reportedly blocked teams from pursuing Greg Hardy due to his history of domestic violence. They have not gotten in the way of the Roughriders signing Richardson, though the allegations against him were also ugly. Richardson’s victim was found with scratches and bruises on her face when Alabama cops responded to a 911 call. Apparently, the pair started arguing in an Alabama Walmart before things turned physical in their hotel room.
Richardson, the former No. 3 pick in the 2012 draft, has never done much at the NFL level. He appeared in 46 games for the Browns and Colts and averaged just 3.3 yards per carry.
NFL Waiver Priority Now Based On 2017 Record
We’re coming up on Week 4 of the NFL season and that means that waiver claim priority will be based on the current league standings instead of last year’s. Of course, waiver priority is based on the inverted NFL standings, which have built in tiebreakers to sort out the many logjams that naturally occur.
Throughout the offseason and the first three weeks of the regular season, the Browns enjoyed top priority thanks to their 1-15 finish last year. Now, we have a brand new pecking order. Here is a full rundown of the current waiver claim priority, which will change from week to week (Twitter links via Field Yates of ESPN.com):
T-1. Bengals
T-1. Browns
T-1. 49ers
4. Giants
5. Chargers
6. Colts
T-7. Texans
T-7. Seahawks
9. Cardinals
10. Jets
11. Saints
12. Bears
13. Dolphins
14. Buccaneers
15. Ravens
T-16. Panthers
T-16. Cowboys
T-16. Rams
T-16. Steelers
T-20. Broncos
T-20. Lions
T-20. Packers
23. Vikings
T-24. Bills
T-24. Jaguars
T-24. Patriots
T-24. Raiders
T-24. Eagles
T-24. Titans
30. Redskins
31. Chiefs
32. Falcons
Teddy Bridgewater Likely To Return Week 7
Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is eligible to return from the physically unable to perform list beginning in Week 7, and a source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that Bridgewater will be “ready to go” at that time.
Bridgewater, who suffered a gruesome knee injury last August and missed the entirety of the 2016 season, would give Minnesota another option at quarterback, a position that’s already been affected by health questions this year. Sam Bradford, whom the Vikings acquired in the wake of Bradford’s injury, posted one of the best performances of his career in Week 1, but has since missed two games while dealing with his own knee issue.
Case Keenum has filled in for Bradford against the Steelers and Buccaneers, and played extremely well in Week 3 against Tampa Bay, completing 75% of his passes for 369 yards and three touchdowns. While Bridgewater’s own health isn’t a given going forward, his presence would give the Vikings three competent players under center if Bradford can return.
If Bridgewater can return, any questions about his contract status would be avoided. If he’d been forced to miss the 2017 campaign, the final year of his rookie deal may have tolled, preventing him from becoming an unrestricted free agent next spring. If he can make it back to the field, however, Bridgewater should hit the open market in 2018 after the Vikings declined his fifth-year option.
Bengals TE Tyler Eifert To Miss Time
Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert is expected to miss “multiple weeks” as he recovers from a back injury, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). On a positive note, Eifert won’t require surgery for his ailing back, per Schefter.
Eifert, of course, is no stranger to injury, as he’s appeared in only 39 of a possible 67 games since entering the NFL as a first-round pick in 2013. His back ailment dates back to the latter part of the 2016 campaign — after missing the first seven games of last year with an ankle issue suffered in the Pro Bowl, Eifert was placed on injured reserve in December after experiencing back pain.
The Bengals were without Eifert in Sunday’s loss to the Packers, and will go forward with internal options Tyler Kroft and C.J. Uzomah, while fullbacks Ryan Hewitt and Cethan Carter are also capable of playing tight end. Cincinnati faces the division-rival (and similarly winless) Browns in Week 4, then takes on the Bills before a Week 6 bye.
Eifert, 27, is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency next spring after his fifth-year option expires.