NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/17/20

We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Miami Dolphins

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Signed: OT Andrew Jones, OT Wyatt Miller

Texans To Consider Brian Schottenheimer For HC Job?

An offensive coordinator with three franchises dating back to the 2006 season, Brian Schottenheimer has not received a chance to become a head coach. The Texans may be considering changing that.

One of the members of the Texans’ search committee, Jed Hughes, made a strong recommendation for the current Seahawks OC to receive serious consideration to succeed Bill O’Brien as Houston’s next head coach, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Schottenheimer has not been connected to a head coaching search since the Seahawks hired him to run their offense in 2018.

The second-generation NFL coach developed a reputation as a conservative play-caller, with the Seahawks finishing with the second- and third-most rushing attempts in 2018 and ’19, respectively. In Schottenheimer’s 11 full seasons as a coordinator, his offenses have never ranked in the top 10 in passing yards.

This season, Schottenheimer has backed off that a bit. Russell Wilson has already surpassed his single-season high for touchdown passes (36) and is on pace to end this season with far more pass attempts than he logged in 2019 (516). Wilson is also completing passes at a career-high rate (70.4%) while maintaining the 8.0 yards-per-attempt figure around which he has hovered under Schottenheimer.

A former Jets and Rams OC, Schottenheimer may trail a now-higher-profile coordinator in this search. Eric Bieniemy may be the favorite to land the job, with Schefter adding that many believe the Chiefs OC is a strong candidate. Deshaun Watson has advocated for Bieniemy, and the Texans are definitely interested in the third-year Chiefs OC. However, Bieniemy stands to attract interest outside of Houston as well. He is on the Falcons’ radar.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/15/20

We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/12/20

Here is Saturday’s usual barrage of minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Jachai Polite; Polite tested positive for the coronavirus, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (via Twitter)

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFC West Notes: Cardinals, Whitworth, Garoppolo

Cardinals NT Corey Peters is out for the season due to a torn patellar tendon, and as he is in the final year of his contract with Arizona, it’s possible he has already played his last game with the team. But if he has it his way, that won’t be the case.

The 32-year-old said that he would love to spend the rest of his career with the Cardinals, as Mason Kern of SI.com writes, and assuming the price is right, it would make sense for GM Steve Keim to keep him. Peters was named Arizona’s nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award yesterday, and he has been a team captain for three years running. In addition to his stout defense against the run, he is a highly-respected spiritual and emotional leader, so look for the two sides to discuss a reunion this offseason.

Now for more from the NFC West:

  • Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald says he feels much better after testing positive for COVID-19 late last month, though he has yet to regain his senses of taste and smell (Twitter link via Kimberley A. Martin of ESPN.com). Fitz also says he lost nine pounds during his bout with the coronavirus, but he did come off the reserve/COVID-19 list on Tuesday, and as Darren Urban of the team’s official website tweets, the 37-year-old will suit up against the Giants this weekend.
  • After sinking 88.6% of his field goal tries in 2019, Cardinals kicker Zane Gonzalez has converted just 72.7% of his attempts this year, prompting some to wonder if the team will seek another option. But Keim will keep rolling with Gonzalez, saying, “I know people question Zane but Zane has a lot of talent. … I think Zane will work through the tough times” (Twitter link via Urban). Gonzalez is playing out the season on his RFA tender, and this is not how he wanted to enter his first offseason as an unrestricted free agent.
  • The Rams suddenly find themselves atop the NFC West, and they could be getting their left tackle back soon. Andrew Whitworth has been on the shelf since the middle of November with a torn MCL and PCL, but Jay Glazer of FOX Sports says (via Twitter) that the veteran OT, who turns 39 tomorrow, will test out the knee next week. Whitworth is apparently way ahead of schedule and could return by the end of the regular season.
  • Jimmy Garoppolo‘s future with the 49ers is in some doubt, even though HC Kyle Shanahan recently said he expects the dashing signal-caller to be the team’s starter in 2021. That may well be the case, but Matt Barrows of The Athletic believes San Francisco will select a QB in next year’s draft, perhaps as high as the second round. There could be a few intriguing prospects available at that point that Shanahan may be able to turn into a viable starter at the professional level. Players like Florida’s Kyle Trask or Alabama’s Mac Jones could both be options.
  • It has now been over a year since Seahawks RB Rashaad Penny last suited up for a game, but as John Boyle of the team’s official website notes, Penny returned to practice this week. Head coach Pete Carroll says he’s excited about what he has seen from Penny in practice (Twitter link via 710 ESPN Seattle), and the ‘Hawks could certainly use a boost to an RB corps that has dealt with a number of injuries this season. Per Boyle, CB Quinton Dunbar, who has been on IR for a few weeks with a knee injury, has also returned to practice.
  • The Seahawks signed QB Alex McGough to their practice squad yesterday, and as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, the team has put its other PS signal-caller, Danny Etling, in a bubble. The Broncos, of course, recently had to play a game with a practice squad wide receiver at QB because the rest of their quarterbacks were deemed high-risk close contacts of Jeff Driskel, who had tested positive. The Seahawks are keeping Etling in a bubble to guard against just such a situation.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/9/20

We’ll keep track of the latest practice squad moves here:

Atlanta Falcons 

  • Signed: CB Chris Williamson

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/8/20

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad moves. There are many.

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

  • Placed on practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Thomas Ives, DT LaCale London, LB Manti Te’o; London and Te’o tested positive for the coronavirus

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/5/20

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Seahawks Move CB Tre Flowers To IR

The Seahawks now have two of their cornerback starters on IR. They placed Tre Flowers on the injured list Saturday, per Sirius XM Radio’s Adam Caplan (on Twitter), sidelining him for at least three games.

Flowers will join Quinton Dunbar on Seattle’s IR and leave the team thin on the boundary. Shaquill Griffin does not have much in the way of experienced coverage help at the moment.

It is unlikely Flowers will miss the rest of the season; he is battling a hamstring ailment. And if there was an ideal time for the Seahawks to be without a starting defender, this would be it. Over the next three weeks, the Seahawks will play the Giants, Jets and Washington.

The third-year corner has been a starter for most of his Seattle tenure. Although the Dunbar trade minimized Flowers to a degree, the former fifth-round pick has remained essential to Seattle’s defensive equation. He has started seven games this season, albeit for one of the league’s worst pass defenses. Having played 15 games (all starts) in each of his first two seasons, this will be Flowers’ longest absence as a pro.

Stephen Hauschka To Retire

Although Stephen Hauschka kicked in a game earlier this year, he has decided 13 NFL seasons is enough. The veteran kicker announced his retirement Friday (via Instagram).

Best known for his run in Seattle, Hauschka kicked for five teams — the Ravens, Broncos, Seahawks, Bills and Jaguars — and initially landed in the NFL as a Vikings UDFA in 2008. Now 35, Hauschka will call it quits after 166 games.

Hauschka’s six-season Seahawks stay enabled him to kick in two Super Bowls, the first of which earning him a ring, and 11 playoff games. However, his postseason career began in three Ravens playoff games in 2008. Hauschka was not Baltimore’s placekicker in those games, however.

He went a perfect 8-for-8 on field goals during Seattle’s run to Super Bowl XLVIII — including two 40-plus-yarders in the Seahawks’ 23-17 win over the 49ers in the NFC title game — and also made a field goal in Super Bowl XLIX. He only missed one field goal in a playoff game, ending his postseason career 24-for-25 in January and February. Hauschka went 4-for-4 in last season’s Bills-Texans wild-card game. In the regular season, he finishes his career with an 85.2% make rate — 16th all time — with a long of 58 (in 2014).

After two seasons with 90%-plus accuracy on field goals in Seattle, Hauschka signed two Bills contracts — the second of which coming via 2019 extension — and kicked with Buffalo for three seasons. The Bills released the veteran earlier this year, opting to go with rookie Tyler Bass. The Jaguars cut Hauschka after one game this season.

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