The activation of Siposs comes as little surprise, since the Eagles designated him for return last week. The 30-year-old has been out since Week 14 due to an ankle injury. His return to the lineup means veteran Brett Kern (who had filled in during Siposs’ absence) will not be in uniform for tomorrow’s Super Bowl.
The NFL’s change to its injured reserve policy has lined up perfectly with the Eagles’ health situation this year. The NFC champions have one injury activation remaining, and while they rolled out all 22 starters in the conference championship game, one regular remained out of action.
Philadelphia’s primary punter, Arryn Siposs, has been out since Week 14. But the Eagles will see if he is ready to return for Super Bowl LVII. Philly designated Siposs for return from IR on Thursday, putting him in position to kick in the Super Bowl.
Upon returning to Eagles workouts, Siposs said he is “good to go” and, per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane (on Twitter), no longer has any issues related to the ankle malady that sent him off the team’s 53-man roster. Siposs suffered the injury when the Giants blocked a punt during the teams’ first matchup Dec. 11.
The Eagles signed veteran Brett Kern to replace Siposs in December and have used him as their punter since. Kern has been in the NFL since 2008. The Eagles not activating Siposs would mean the former Titans and Broncos punter — a three-time Pro Bowler — would play in his first Super Bowl.
A 30-year-old specialist from Australia, Siposs is only in his second NFL season. He was averaging 45.6 yards per punt before going down this year. Kern, 36, was at just 40.8 during the regular season. On seven playoff punts, Kern’s average has climbed to 44.1. In just 13 games, Siposs had placed 16 punts inside the 20-yard line — just one shy of his 17-game total in 2021.
The Eagles have done well to navigate the eight-activation allotment this season, moving the likes of Jordan Davis, Dallas Goedert, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Avonte Maddox and Robert Quinn to IR and then activating them. The Eagles held off on placing Maddox back on IR after his December toe injury and kept Jalen Hurts and Lane Johnson on the active roster amid their injury issues. Should Siposs be activated for the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl outing, the team will have its 22 starters and each of its specialists available.
Brett Kern will have an opportunity to begin his 15th NFL season soon. After a Monday workout, the Eagles are signing the veteran punter, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
The Eagles had a need at punter, with Arryn Siposs out indefinitely (via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, on Twitter) due to a lower-leg injury sustained when the Giants blocked a first-half punt. Week 15 stands to be Siposs’ first missed NFL game.
Kern, 36, has punted in 219 NFL contests; though, none have come since last season. The former Titans and Broncos specialist has not been with a team since the Titans released him on roster cutdown day. Tennessee had kept Kern in place as its punter since 2009, but the team shifted to a younger player (Ryan Stonehouse) out of training camp this year.
Three Pro Bowl nods — form 2017-19 — appear on Kern’s resume. He will follow thirtysomethings Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph in joining the 12-1 Eagles in-season. Kern finished with his lowest per-punt average since 2016 last season, at 44.8. Siposs is averaging 45.6 per boot in his second Eagles season. Should this Kern move be an active-roster addition, it should be expected Siposs will land on IR.
The Eagles added Siposs as a UDFA last year. Despite Siposs being only in his second season, he recently turned 30. The Australian ventured to Auburn in 2017, transitioning from a career in Australian Rules Football. The Eagles gave him a reserve/futures deal in January 2021. It remains to be seen if Siposs will miss the rest of this season, as it is not known exactly what injury he sustained. But Siposs being carted off did not represent a good visual for the Eagles, who will pick up the pieces with Kern.
February 9th, 2021 at 1:03pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
Before he was the first overall pick of the Cardinals in the 2019 NFL Draft, Kyler Murray was the ninth overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Oakland A’s. Then he went on to win the Heisman Trophy, causing him to rocket up NFL draft boards. Even after winning the Heisman Murray initially was reported to be pursuing baseball over football, but obviously that changed when it became clear just how high he’d be drafted. We haven’t heard a ton about his baseball passions since, but he made it clear he isn’t over the game in interviews this past week. “I would love to” play baseball again one day Murray said on The Pat McAfee Show, via Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic. “I think it’s still there because I’ve been doing it my whole life. It wasn’t like I have to turn this off to be elite at football.”
When asked if he could see himself playing football and baseball at the same time one day soon, Murray said “I hope so. I hope so. I mean, I would love to. I think that would be good for everybody … I think it is tough because I play quarterback.” He also added that walking away from Oakland was “definitely the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.” The Cardinals likely aren’t as enthused about the possibility, and it’s specifically in his contract that he’s not allowed to play baseball. Maybe when it comes time for Murray to get a contract extension from Arizona, he’ll look to negotiate a clause that allows him to try his hand at baseball? It’s certainly fun to think about, and I think every fan would be hoping he can become the next Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders.
Here’s more from around the league as we officially turn our attention toward the offseason:
David Njoku had a rocky season with the Browns, even as the team had their most success in decades. The drafting of Harrison Bryant and signing of Austin Hooper reduced his role on offense, and Njoku demanded to be traded this past summer, then changed his mind on that demand, then apparently changed his mind once again and wanted to be traded in October. Obviously Cleveland didn’t want to deal him, and it looked like everything had more or less been worked out, but Njoku fanned the flames again this past week. “That’s a good question,” Njoku said recently on the Jim Rome Show when asked if he’s in the right spot, per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “I’m not going to answer that right now. I have no comment towards that at this moment,” Njoku said cryptically. The 29th overall pick of the 2017 draft added that everything would work itself out in the “near future.” Thanks to his fifth-year option the tight end is under contract for 2021 at a hair over $6MM, although that’s not guaranteed. If they choose to keep him at that number, it sounds like another trade request could be in the cards.
Reserve/futures deals are non-guaranteed pacts to keep unheralded players a part of a team’s offseason 90-man roster, so they usually don’t come with any bonuses or guaranteed money. When they do, that makes them a lot more notable, and Field Yates of ESPN.com recently tweeted out this cycle’s biggest. Cornerback Grant Haley got $35.7K from the Saints, safety Marqui Christian and cornerback Xavier Crawford got $35K and $31.3K respectively from the Bears, long snapper Dan Godsil got $27.4K from the Bengals, and tight end Tyree Jackson got $25.2K from the Eagles while punter Arryn Siposs got $25K from Philly. All these guys would seem to have a better than normal chance of cracking next year’s 53. Haley saw a lot of run his first two years in the league with the Giants, and was up and down from New Orleans’ practice squad in 2020. If Cincy is giving a reserve/futures long snapper $25K, you’ve gotta figure they think there’s a good chance he’s their guy next year. Jackson is a notable name since he’s the former University of Buffalo star quarterback who has since transitioned to tight end.
Speaking of relatively minor contracts, Yates also tweeted the details for the recent extensions for Raiders quarterback Nathan Peterman and 49ers long snapper Taybor Pepper. Peterman got a guaranteed $1MM base salary on his one-year deal, a $25K workout bonus, and a max value of $2.775MM with incentives. Pepper got two-years, $2.08MM with an $80K signing bonus and $220K of his $920K salary for 2021 guaranteed. It’s pretty eyebrow-raising to see Peterman get his $1MM guaranteed considering he’s thrown all of five passes the past two seasons, but Jon Gruden clearly loves the guy. This would suggest he’s got a good shot to hold the clipboard for Derek Carr, or whoever is the Raiders’ starter next year.
Blough was an undrafted rookie from Purdue last year who ended up starting five games after injuries to Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel. The offseason addition of Chase Daniel made Blough expendable, but he’ll serve as the third quarterback.
Wiggins has been in the league since 2012, and he has extensive starting experience. He’s started 13 games for Detroit over the past two years, and will probably be the first guy getting called up if there are offensive line injuries. Williams carried the ball 49 times for Indy last year, but he’ll have a tough time getting any snaps now that the Lions have also added Adrian Peterson.
