Jaguars Sign Jabaal Sheard
The Jaguars have added Jabaal Sheard to their practice squad, per a club announcement. Sheard will be at the ready for a Jaguars’ edge unit lacking in experience and lagging in production as of late. 
[RELATED: Jaguars Release K Stephen Hauschka, Promote K Jon Brown]
Sheard has 103 starts and 51.5 sacks for his career, including a recent three-year stint with the Colts. The Colts let him walk this offseason, and he didn’t generate a ton of buzz once he hit the open market. He wasn’t a world-beater in 2019, but he did grade as one of the better run defenders among edge players, per Pro Football Focus, during his first two seasons with Indy.
Despite having recent first-round picks Josh Allen and K’Lavon Chaisson in the lineup, the Jags have just five sacks through five games. On Sunday, the front seven managed to put some pressure on Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the team’s offensive shortcomings. Now 1-4, the Jaguars will look to stop their four-game slide against the Lions on Sunday.
Dolphins’ Davon Godchaux Done For Year?
Dolphins defensive tackle Davon Godchaux suffered a biceps injury that could end his season, sources tell Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). The former fifth-round pick will go for a second opinion, but it sounds like he’ll be out for an extended stretch, at the minimum. 
[RELATED: Dolphins Place LT Austin Jackson On IR]
Godchaux underwent surgery to repair the injury. The Dolphins placed the starting defender on IR, but Godchaux has not thrown in the towel on returning this season, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald tweets.
Godchaux has been a full-time starter in Miami the last few years and he was gunning for a pay bump in his contract year. The run-stuffing nose tackle — making $2.1MM in 2020 — had 16 tackles, one tackle for a loss, and two QB hits through five games this season.
Last year, Godchaux made more stops within two yards of the line than any other defensive tackle in the NFL. He also turned in a career high of 75 tackles and a new watermark of seven pressures, plus three sacks from the interior. The Dolphins were high on him coming into this year, as shown by their lack of serious interest in top defensive tackles like D.J. Reader.
The Dolphins advanced to 2-3 after their 43-17 drumming of the 49ers. On Sunday, they’re set to face the Broncos in Denver as they try to close the gap with the division-leading Bills.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/12/20
Today’s practice squad moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: CB Nate Hairston
Carolina Panthers
- RB Rodney Smith
Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: TE Dominique Dafney
Houston Texans
- Signed: LB Emmanuel Ellerbee, K Brett Maher
- Released WR Dwayne Harris, QB Alex McGough
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: DE Jabaal Sheard
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: DE Eddie Yarbrough
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Travis Jonsen, TE Codey McElroy, RB Aca’Cedric Ware
- Released: C Zach Shackelford
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LS Matt Overton
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/12/20
Here are today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted from practice squad: C Trystan Colon-Castillo
- Placed on IR: LB Otaro Alaka
Buffalo Bills
- Promoted from practice squad: LB Deon Lacey
- Placed on IR: LB Del’Shawn Phillips
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: DT Caraun Reid
- Placed on IR: S Andrew Wingard
- Released: DT Carl Davis
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: DE Jordan Brailford
New England Patriots
- Moved to COVID-19 list: DT Byron Cowart
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: CB Ken Crawley
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Austin Carr, TE Garrett Griffin
- Released: DL Margus Hunt
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: CB Ross Cockrell, LB Chapelle Russell
- Placed on IR: LB Jack Cichy
- Waived: CB Parnell Motley
Tennessee Titans
- Activated from COVID-19 list: LS Beau Brinkley, NT DaQuan Jones
Texans Sign Kyle Emanuel Off Raiders’ Practice Squad
Kyle Emanuel‘s NFL comeback is taking another step in the right direction. The Texans have signed the veteran linebacker off the Raiders’ practice squad, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets.
A fifth-round pick of the Chargers back in 2015, Emanuel quickly became a starter. From 2016-18 he started 29 games, but at the conclusion of his rookie contract he surprisingly opted to retire despite reportedly having multiple contract offers on the table. After sitting out the 2019 season, he announced his intention to return to the league back in March.
Obviously COVID-19 threw a bit of a wrench into his plans, and he ended up having to wait until late August to sign with Las Vegas. He was elevated to the active roster for Week 3 but has mostly been on Jon Gruden’s practice squad until now. 29 now, Emanuel will hope to revamp his career with a struggling Houston defense.
Jaguars Release K Stephen Hauschka, Promote K Jon Brown
The Jaguars are changing kickers yet again. Jacksonville is releasing veteran Stephen Hauschka and replacing him by promoting Jon Brown from the practice squad, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Incredibly, this will now be the Jag’s fifth kicker of the season after regular placekicker Josh Lambo went down with a hip injury that landed him on injured reserve. Fortunately head coach Doug Marrone said the team is hoping Lambo will be ready for the team’s Week 7 game against the Chargers, so Brown might only end up filling in for one week.
Hauschka, the former Seahawks and Bills kicker, was signed back on September 28th. Despite a great deal of past experience and success Hauschka didn’t pan out in Jacksonville, and he had a disastrous game against the Texans yesterday.
He missed both of his field goal attempts, including shanking a 24-yarder and coming up short on a 49-yarder. Former Giants kicker Aldrick Rosas filled in for an injured Hauschka in Week 4 against the Bengals and played well, before landing back on the practice squad injured list with an injury of his own. Brandon Wright was briefly the kicker before he was waived after coming down with a groin injury.
Brown is a 2016 UDFA who originally played soccer at Kentucky before switching to football at Louisville. Brown has spent offseason time with the Bengals and 49ers, but has never kicked in a regular season NFL game. We don’t know what the heck is going on with Jacksonville’s special teams units right now, but hopefully Brown is able to avoid injury.
Bengals Sign DT Xavier Williams, Place D.J. Reader On IR
The Bengals are bolstering their banged up defensive line. The team has signed defensive tackle Xavier Williams and placed fellow defensive tackle D.J. Reader on injured reserve in a corresponding roster move, Cincy announced Monday.
As we wrote last night, the team believes Reader, one of their big free agent signings this offseason, will miss the rest of the year with a quad injury. Williams is a 2015 UDFA who spent his first few seasons with the Cardinals. After finally getting some real playing time with Arizona in 2017, he signed with the Chiefs as a restricted free agent the following year. He appeared in all 16 games with Kansas City in 2018, starting four while racking up 47 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
He missed most of last year with an ankle injury but was activated down the stretch, and ended up playing a sizable role on defense in the Chiefs’ first two playoff wins. After earning his ring he signed with the Patriots back in August, but was cut two weeks ago after appearing in only one game with New England.
Fellow interior defensive lineman Mike Daniels is on injured reserve as well, leaving the Bengals without the stout run-stuffing trio they envisioned. Fortunately, All-Pro Geno Atkins made his 2020 debut this past week and should begin to ramp up his snaps.
Cowboys’ Trysten Hill Done For Year
Cowboys defensive tackle Trysten Hill is done for the year after tearing the ACL in his right knee against the Giants (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). He’ll undergo an MRI on Tuesday morning to confirm, but the diagnosis was immediately clear to team doctors. 
The hits just keep on coming in Dallas as Hill is the tenth starter to land on injured reserve in 2020. They were counting on the 2019 second-round pick, who seemed to be on the right track after a rocky rookie year. In 2019, Hill was sent home after arriving late to a practice and he even fell asleep in the middle of a speech by Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas.
Hill was first-string for all five of the Cowboys’ games this season, including Sunday’s 37-34 win over the rival Giants. His sophomore season will end with eleven total tackles, including one TFL. Antwaun Woods and third-round rookie Neville Gallimore are on hand to partner with Dontari Poe up front, but the Cowboys will need some reinforcements. Justin Hamilton — who previously suited up for the Chiefs and Eagles — may be called up from the taxi squad.
Browns Place Greedy Williams On IR
Browns cornerback Greedy Williams will be placed on injured reserve, per a club announcement. While he won’t require surgery, head coach Kevin Stefanski says he’ll need additional time to heal up from a nerve issue in his shoulder. 
[RELATED: Browns Place Nick Chubb On IR]
Williams was absent from the Browns’ first five games. Now that he’s on IR, he’ll miss at least another three. In a best case scenario, Williams will be eligible to return for the Browns’ Nov. 15 game against the Texans.
Williams, a 2019 second-round pick, registered 47 stops as a rookie. The LSU product missed a quarter the season due to hamstring issues and he once again finds himself sidelined. At best, Williams will finish his second pro season with just 20 regular season games played in total.
On the plus side, the Browns beat the Colts on Sunday with Terrence Mitchell, Denzel Ward, and Kevin Johnson as their top trio of cornerbacks. With that, they advanced to 3-1 on the season, though they’ll have to push for separation in the sardine-packed AFC North. Next up, a pivotal matchup against the 4-0 Steelers.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/10/20
Here is the latest barrage of Saturday minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted: TE Evan Baylis, S Curtis Riley
Atlanta Falcons
- Promoted: DB Tyler Hall, LB Edmond Robinson
Chicago Bears
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: T Badara Traore
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted: DT Kahlil McKenzie, CB Torry McTyer
Cleveland Browns
- Promoted: DT Joey Ivie, DE Cameron Malveaux
Denver Broncos
- Promoted: T Jake Rodgers
- Placed on IR: RB LeVante Bellamy
Houston Texans
- Promoted: LB Nate Hall, S Jonathan Owens
Indianapolis Colts
- Promoted: G Jake Eldrenkamp, WR Marcus Johnson
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Promoted: DL Caraun Reid, LB Quincy Williams, S Jarrod Wilson
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: DE Datone Jones, DE Chris Smith
Los Angeles Rams
- Waived: DT Eric Banks
Miami Dolphins
- Promoted: DE Tyshun Render
Minnesota Vikings
- Waived: DE Eddie Yarbrough
Philadelphia Eagles
- Activated from IR: CB Craig James, WR Quez Watkins
- Promoted: DB Grayland Arnold, TE Jason Croom, DB Elijah Riley
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: FB Trey Edmunds
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: CB Brian Allen, CB Jamar Taylor, WR Kevin White
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted: S Damarious Randall
Tennessee Titans
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Greg Mabin
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: TE Temarrick Hemingway