Brandon Pettigrew Done For Season
Lions coach Jim Caldwell told reporters that tight end Brandon Pettigrew tore his ACL again, ruling him out for the remainder of the season, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Even though this is a lost season for the Lions, it’s unfortunate news for the seven-year veteran.
The Lions and Pettigrew agreed to a four-year contract prior to the 2014 season worth $16MM, including $8MM in guaranteed money. As a result, the 30-year-old (31 in February) is slated to be under contract with Detroit through the end of the 2017 season. Even though Pettigrew is well-compensated by the Lions, he’s certainly hoping for a turnaround as the team has slumped to a 4-9 mark this season.
Pettigrew, who had 71 receptions in 2010 and 83 in 2011, was one of the top tight ends to reach the unrestricted free agent market in the spring of 2014. The Lions successfully outbid the Jets, Raiders, Chiefs, and other clubs interested in his services. In eight games this season, Pettigrew has notched just seven receptions for 67 yards and one score.
Bengals Eyeing Ryan Mallett, Christian Ponder
In the wake of Andy Dalton‘s broken right thumb – widely thought to be a season-ender – the Bengals are considering their options at quarterback. The Bengals have reached out to both Ryan Mallett and Christian Ponder as they look for QB support, a league source told PFT.
At present, A.J. McCarron is the only other quarterback on the active roster and therefore is slated to take over as the starter. The Bengals also have Keith Wenning on the taxi squad and he seems like a candidate for promotion, but one that would be largely unproven should the injury bug bite McCarron. Last year’s No. 2 QB Jason Campbell could, theoretically, also get a call, but he has made it clear that he is staying retired.
Dalton will assuredly miss next week’s contest against the 49ers, and even in a best case scenario, he’ll likely miss the following week’s game against Denver. That contest, which had always loomed large on the schedule, has taken on extra importance as both clubs vie for those top two seeds. If Dalton misses the remainder of the regular season, he’ll also be be out for Cincinnati’s final regular season game against division foe Baltimore.
The man tasked with guiding the Bengals through that gauntlet in the absence of Dalton will be McCarron, Cincinnati’s fifth-round pick in last year’s draft. The 25-year-old didn’t play a single snap last season (and notably, was unable to even practice, having been relegated to the non-football injury list all year), and until this week, had seen just three snaps in relief of Dalton. Against the Steelers today, McCarron completed 22 of 32 attempts for 280 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Packers, Mike Daniels Agree To $42MM Extension
The Packers and Mike Daniels have reached agreement on a four-year, $42MM extension, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The deal will give Daniels $22MM in the first 15 months of the deal and a $12MM signing bonus, a source tells Schefter. Daniels is now the third-highest paid 3-4 defensive end in the NFL. 
Daniels, who will earn an average annual value of $10.5MM under his new deal, was considered to be a potential franchise tag candidate for Green Bay this offseason. Green Bay management was said to have identified Daniels as the most important of its 14 upcoming free agents, but they reportedly weren’t willing to go to $10MM per year. Apparently, things have changed over the last couple of months as Daniels has continued to excel on the Packers’ defensive line.
“Why wouldn’t (Daniels) get $10 (million)?” an NFL personnel director told Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel last month. “Most of those guys are bigger, but who’s more disruptive? I think Mike Daniels is a good player. I think he and Liuget are on a par. The way that market goes, you’re going to overpay. It he goes to free agency, do you (the Packers) want to run that risk?”
Daniels, 26, has started all 13 of the Packers’ games this season, racking up 41 tackles, 4.0 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. Of course, he still has time to try and eclipse his stats from 2014. Last year, Daniels amassed 47 tackles and 5.5 sacks in a full 16 game season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
AFC East Notes: McCourty, Jets, Fitzpatrick
Here’s a look at the AFC East:
- Patriots safety Devin McCourty only suffered a sprained ankle and the injury will not cause him to miss the playoffs, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. McCourty suffered a scary looking non-contact injury on Sunday night and some observers initially worried that McCourty had suffered a serious injury, such as an Achilles tear.
- Muhammad Wilkerson is getting less affordable for the Jets with every sack, Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post writes. One game does not make a player, but Hubbuch feels that the All-Pro defensive tackle upped his asking price significantly with a monster afternoon Sunday against the Titans. The pending free agent tallied three sacks, three quarterback hits, two other tackles for lost yardage and five solo tackles to go along with a forced fumble and a pass breakup. “Mo is definitely in beast mode right now,” Jets’ safety Calvin Pryor said. “He’s unstoppable right now, [and] everybody’s starting to take notice. He’s a great player and keeps getting the job done, week in and week out.”
- Ryan Fitzpatrick went from an afterthought to having one of the Jets’ best years for a quarterback ever, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes. On his sixth team at the age of 33, Fitzpatrick is closing in on his first playoff berth as a starter and it’s no surprise that coach Todd Bowles wants to bring him back in 2016.
Extra Points: Nkemdiche, Henry, McCarthy, Kelly
Consensus top-10 pick Robert Nkemdiche remains in stable condition after a fall from a hotel room window in Atlanta, David Ching of ESPN.com reports.
Reports varied over the nature of the Ole Miss junior defensive lineman’s fall, with this tweet indicating the Atlanta police said Nkemdiche fell from a fourth-floor window. But according to Ching’s report, police indicated this was a one-story fall of approximately 15 feet.
Per Ching, Nkemdiche appeared to have broken the window, climbed over another wall before falling to the ground. A small amount of “suspected marijuana” was present inside the room.
Matt Miller of Bleacher Report projects Nkemdiche to go fourth in the 2016 draft, and Mel Kiper Jr. lists the former No. 1 overall recruit as his No. 5 prospect.
Here are some additional news items on draft prospects and other news from around the league.
- Character issues are affecting Nkemdiche’s perception among NFL decision-makers, Miller reports (video link). Miller, however, cautions that demoting character risks can be costly, considering Justin Houston and Tyrann Mathieu‘s rapid rises.
- Alabama running back Derrick Henry won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player, but that doesn’t automatically mean he will be a high draft pick, writes Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. He spoke with former scout Dan Hatman, who has Henry rated between his 100th and 150th best prospect, citing his reliance on blocking, poor change of direction, and a heavy college workload as reasons to be wary of overrating the top college running back.
- Mike McCarthy notified associate head coach Tom Clements on Monday he’d be reassuming control of calling the Packers‘ plays, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com reports. The 10th-year Packers coach was following the advice of others in the organization urging him to do so, but McCarthy demurred initially because of fear it would make Clements and offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett look bad, Demovsky notes. Entering Sunday’s game, the Packers ranked 22nd in offense and 26th in third-down conversions. They rushed for 230 yards against the Cowboys. Clements last called plays for the Drew Bledsoe-era Bills in the mid-2000s. “The personal part of it was brutal,” McCarthy told media regarding Clements’ demotion. “Professionally, I felt like I had to do it. I was worried about making sure I was going to do my job good.”
- Chip Kelly denied calling LeSean McCoy this week, an alleged phone call that resulted in the former Eagles running back hanging up on his ex-coach. “When people want to make up false stories about me calling people up during the week and them hanging up on me – people (are) trying to get Twitter hits or things like that and make themselves significant,” Kelly told media. The Philadelphia Inquirer stands by the story, the Inquirer’s Jeff McLane writes. Kelly attempted to call McCoy after news of the trade with the Bills in March, however.
- Gus Bradley‘s job should be safe after the Jaguars‘ 51-16 thrashing of the Colts, O’Halloran writes. O’Halloran believes Bradley was on thin ice prior to this performance, but notching his fifth victory and first over the Colts puts the former Seahawks DC on firm ground in O’Halloran’s mind.
- A 2011 loss in Jacksonville prompted Jim Irsay to fire Bill Polian and Jim Caldwell, and Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star wonders if the Colts‘ owner’s reached his decision to fire Chuck Pagano after allowing the 5-8 Jaguars to put up 51 points. In his contract’s final year, Pagano seems a pretty safe bet for a Black Monday headline.
- Next week’s must-win for the Colts could feature career backup Charlie Whitehurst at quarterback, Kevin Bowen of Colts.com writes. With Andrew Luck throwing but not yet practicing and Matt Hasselbeck exiting Sunday’s rout early, next week’s Colts-Texans game could double as Whitehurst’s second-biggest career start, after the infamous Week 17 2010 game that clinched the 7-9 Seahawks’ playoff berth. The 33-year-old Whitehurst has made nine career starts, including five last season with the Titans.
Rob Dire contributed to this report.
AFC Notes: Parker, Osemele, Bengals, Bills
Continuing a trend that the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero’s observed throughout this decade, a disconnect between the Dolphins‘ front office and coaching staff’s formed based on the usage of the team’s draft picks.
This season, Miami’s front office wanted first-round pick DeVante Parker to play more often than he did prior to becoming a regular down the stretch, Salguero reports.
Previous philosophical differences involved 2013 first-rounder Dion Jordan and 2013 fourth-round selection Dion Sims, whom then-GM Jeff Ireland wanted Joe Philbin to play more than he was, with a similar disconnect occurring two years prior in the form of Tony Sparano and Ireland disagreeing on which players the team would cut prior to the start of the 2011 season.
Such disharmony has been new to the Dolphins, with previous coaches Don Shula, Jimmy Johnson or Nick Saban having full decision-making autonomy. Salguero adds that new personnel man Mike Tannenbaum did not escalate this push for Parker to see the field sooner as Ireland did with Sparano and Philbin regarding former prospects.
Let’s look at some more AFC items as Week 14 shifts into its night-game sector.
- Kelechi Osemele ventured back to tackle Sunday in place of the underwhelming James Hurst and wants to stay there, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports. Osemele, who began his career at the Ravens‘ right tackle before becoming one of the NFL’s premier left guards over the past two-plus seasons, moved to left tackle in a Ravens effort to increase their line’s overall talent level. This is significant because the former second-round pick will be one of the top offensive linemen available in free agency if he does not reach an accord with the Ravens before the new league year begins. The former Iowa State cog started 38 games at left tackle for the Cyclones. Osemele expressed desire to be Baltimore’s left tackle of the future. “I sure hope so,” Osemele told media about a desire to stay on the edge. “I would definitely love to be the guy for the Ravens into the future, as long as I can keep performing at a high level.” Baltimore placed high-priced, but injury-prone left tackle Eugene Monroe on IR on Saturday. Signed to a five-year, $37.5MM contract in 2014, Monroe has $6.6MM worth of dead money left on his deal.
- If Andy Dalton misses the rest of the season as he’s expected to, it will cost him a chance at a $5MM escalator in his contract, according to CBS Sports’ Joel Corry (on Twitter). The Bengals‘ starting quarterback needs to play at least 80% of the snaps, which he’s done for four straight seasons, to earn this bonus.
- Conversely, Michael Crabtree‘s enjoying a better week financially. The Raiders‘ newly extended wideout earned an additional $400K by catching four passes Sunday, ESPN.com’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter), giving him 70 for the season.
- An unpenalized threat resided at the root of the Bengals-Steelers pregame fight, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. After Vontaze Burfict‘s tackle of Le’Veon Bell resulted in the star Pittsburgh runner’s season-ending knee injury in the teams’ previous meeting, Steelers linebacker Vince Williams sent out a tweet that Burfict and other Bengals regarded as a death threat, Florio writes. Burfict confronted Williams, who previously deleted the tweet and apologized, before the game and took action because the NFL didn’t, Andrew Whitworth told PFT. Florio writes that Williams’ social media threat violates the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
- The 15 penalties whistled against the Bills in their loss to the Eagles riled up the coaching staff to the point that one of them can be heard screaming at the officials while walking to the locker room that the 15 infractions — for 101 yards — were a “disgrace to the NFL,” Joe Buscaglia of WKBW reports (on Twitter). Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk points out Bills first-year defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman as the likely culprit.
Panthers’ Bene Benwikere Fractures Leg
The 13-0 Panthers received some rare bad news amid their best regular season in franchise history. Nickel cornerback Bene Benwikere fractured his leg, Ron Rivera told media, including NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter).
A second-year player, Benwikere’s started four straight games for the injured Charles Tillman, who the team hopes will return from a knee injury before the end of the regular season.
Benwikere appears likely to miss the remainder of the Panthers’ season, leaving Teddy Williams and the recently signed Cortland Finnegan to fill in alongside Josh Norman.
Benwikere’s been a key fixture in the Panthers’ secondary since arriving as a fifth-round pick, starting six games for Carolina last season. The 5-foot-11 San Jose State alum hasn’t enjoyed a particularly impressive second season, according to Pro Football Focus. The analytics site rates Benwikere as its No. 76 corner.
Finnegan and Williams, a fifth-year journeyman who has mostly played special teams, represent the Panthers’ only additional corners. With the team in dire need of depth at an already-depleted spot, Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer points out (on Twitter) the Panthers worked out Robert McClain and Bradley Fletcher before they signed Finnegan on Nov. 30.
Andy Dalton’s Season In Jeopardy
6:18pm: Updating his earlier report, Holtzman tweets a return by the playoffs represents Dalton’s best-case scenario, according to multiple team sources who still tell the ESPN.com reporter the injury is probably season-ending.
4:36pm: While there isn’t yet certainty about Dalton’s injury, the “feeling in the [Cincinnati] locker room is that it’s likely a season-ender,” tweets Bob Holtzman of ESPN.com.
4:18pm: The Bengals’ excellent start to the 2015 season was driven, in part, by an unprecedented streak of good luck when it came to injuries. That string of good fortune has ended, as Marvin Lewis confirmed to reporters, including Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network (Twitter link), that quarterback Andy Dalton suffered a fractured right thumb during today’s loss to the Steelers. It sounds like the Cincinnati staff is still gathering information on the injury, but Lewis did say Dalton will be “out for a bit.”
Lewis didn’t get into any more specifics on the projected length of Dalton’s absence, but he did say that Dalton won’t necessarily miss the remainder of the season (Twitter link via Kinkhabwala). Dalton himself told the Bengals radio network that he’ll see a surgeon tomorrow for a consultation, per John Kryk of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link), at which point the club will likely learn more about the exact nature — and timetable — of the injury.
Though the Bengals essentially have a playoff berth (and probably, the AFC North) locked up, Dalton’s injury is a massive blow to their chances of receiving a first-round postseason bye. Infamously, Dalton, Lewis, and the rest of the Bengals have suffered first-round exits in each of the last four playoffs, so a bye — and home-field advantage for much or all of the tournament — would have been a big help. However, Cincinnati is now probably looking at the No. 3 seed, as the Broncos and Patriots look like the favorites for byes.
Dalton will assuredly miss next week’s contest against the 49ers, and even in a best case scenario, he’ll likely miss the following week’s game against Denver. That contest, which had always loomed large on the schedule, has taken on extra importance as both clubs vie for those top two seeds. If Dalton misses the remainder of the regular season, he’ll also be be out for Cincinnati’s final regular season game against division foe Baltimore.
The man tasked with guiding the Bengals through that gauntlet in the absence of Dalton will be second-year quarterback A.J. McCarron, Cincinnati’s fifth-round pick in last year’s draft. The 25-year-old didn’t play a single snap last season (and notably, was unable to even practice, having been relegated to the non-football injury list all year), and until this week, had seen just three snaps in relief of Dalton. Against the Steelers today, McCarron completed 22 of 32 attempts for 280 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Luckily, the Bengals have plenty of weapons for McCarron to work with as he steps into the starting role. The club ranks first in offensive DVOA, and while much of that ranking can be attributed to Dalton posting the best season of his career, Cincinnati does possess an offense chock full of talent, and A.J. Green, Marvin Jones, Tyler Eifert, Jeremy Hill, and Gio Bernard will all be expected to pick up the slack in the absence of Dalton. One issue, however, is that Eifert also left today’s game with a concussion, so his status for next week could also be in doubt.
The Bengals had only been carrying two quarterbacks on the active roster, so they’ll need to make a move to bring in a backup to serve behind McCarron. Keith Wenning, currently on Cincinnati’s practice squad, is the most obvious candidate to move into thar role, but it’s always possible that the club goes the free agent route.
PFR Originals: 12/6/15 – 12/13/15
The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past week:
- Luke Adams posted our master list of 2016 Free Agents. Use that post to keep track of every play set to be available on the market next spring (both restricted and unrestricted free agents).
- Using that list, I went over the roster of available players to compose our 2016 Free Agent Power Rankings, on which Von Miller, Alshon Jeffery, and Josh Norman all figure prominently.
- Zach Links rounded up the best of the football blogs in the latest edition of Pigskin Links.
- In our Community Tailgate series, we post topics for discussion and encourage readers to post their thoughts in the comments section. The issues touched on this week:
Thomas Rawls Fractures Ankle, Out For Year
The Seahawks are on a roll, having won four games in a row (scoring 29+ points in each contest) as they’ve improved to 8-5 on the season. But they’ll have to finish the rest of the regular season — and a likely postseason run — without the help of rookie running back Thomas Rawls, who suffered a fractured ankle today and will miss the remainder of the season, head coach Pete Carroll told reporters, including Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times (Twitter link).
Rawls is a devastating loss for a Seattle offense that has been without fellow running back Marshawn Lynch for the better part of a month. Filling in for the veteran, Rawls, an undrafted free agent, has been exceptional, rushing for nearly 400 yards during from Week 11 to 13. He’d been stellar subbing for Lynch earlier in the season as well, as reflected by the rookie’s season totals: 141 carries, 786 yards, and four touchdowns.
Carroll told reporters that Rawls might not require surgery, but that obviously makes no difference as to whether he’ll be available again this season. And while for the time being it appears as though veterans Fred Jackson and DuJuan Harris will form some sort of backfield committee, Carroll did add that the team might look for help via free agency (Twitter link via Condotta).
Of course, the wild card in this scenario is Lynch, who is said to be recovering well from sports hernia surgery. Lynch is apparently back at the team facility, and just this morning we heard that he’s “progressing.” Still, with Seattle all but having locked up a wild card spot, it probably doesn’t make sense for the club to push Lynch to return, even with the injury to Rawls. But whether or not Lynch can get back in time for the playoffs could have huge implications on the Seahawks’ postseason chances.