NFL Suspends Broncos CB Kareem Jackson
On the heels of the Broncos’ blowout loss to the Chiefs, they got some more tough news. Starting cornerback Kareem Jackson has been suspended for the final two games of the season, according to Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link). 
According to Klis, the suspension stems from a September arrest for DUI. With the two-game ban, Jackson will be barred from playing in the team’s final games of 2019 against the Lions and Raiders.
Jackson, 31, joined the Broncos on a three-year, $33MM deal in March with $23MM guaranteed. Pro Football Focus’ No. 14-graded cornerback in 2018, Jackson began the 2018 season at safety for the Texans and fared well there, but was shifted back to corner later in the year.
With the Broncos, he’s started in all 13 of his games while seeing time at different spots in the secondary. His season will end with 71 total tackles, two interceptions (including one against his old friends in Houston), and a forced fumble.
Giants Place Evan Engram On IR
Evan Engram‘s season is officially over. The Giants are placing the talented young tight end on injured reserve with a couple of games left in the year, the team announced Tuesday.
To take his place on the active roster, they promoted receiver David Sills from the practice squad. Engram hadn’t played since a November 4th game against the Cowboys, but New York had been holding out hope for a late-season comeback. Engram is dealing with a foot sprain and got a second opinion on the injury about a month ago. He’ll finish his third season as a pro with 44 catches for 467 yards and three touchdowns across eight games.
A first-round pick out of Ole Miss back in 2017, the Giants will have to decide on his fifth-year option this offseason. Given his production when healthy, it seems like a no-brainer that they’ll pick it up. Engram missed five games due to injury last year, but has been one of the league’s better tight ends when available. As a rookie he had 722 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games, great numbers for a first-year tight end.
The Giants have obviously been having a disappointing season, with plenty of injuries on offense. The 23rd overall pick in 2017, Engram turned 25 in September. Sills is a rookie UDFA from West Virginia who originally signed with the Bills. After Buffalo waived him at final cuts, he latched on with New York’s practice squad.
Chiefs Claim Terrell Suggs
The Chiefs claimed former Cardinals linebacker Terrell Suggs off waivers on Tuesday. The news was first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Initially, it wasn’t clear whether Suggs would be willing to suit up for the Chiefs. After his release, he told people close to him that he would only play for the Ravens, but the opportunity to play for another Super Bowl ring made him reconsider. He will join KC and, in all likelihood, make his Chiefs debut on Sunday against the Bears.
The pickup gives the Chiefs some much needed edge rushing ammo in the wake of Alex Okafor‘s pectoral injury. To date, Suggs has with 5.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in 13 games this year.
Suggs was a popular man on the waiver wire. As Rapoport tweets, the Saints, 49ers, and Seahawks all put in a claim, which makes sense given that all of those teams are dealing with injuries to their own pass rushers. Rapoport says the Ravens may have signed Suggs if he had cleared waivers, but Baltimore did not put in a claim.
Suggs didn’t get the homecoming he wanted, but he fell into a choice situation. Rather than playing out the year for the 4-9-1 Cards, he has the opportunity to aid the 10-4 Chiefs in their quest for a championship.
Suggs was drafted No. 10 overall by the Ravens all the way back in 2003. He spent the next 16 seasons with the team and became a franchise icon, winning Super Bowl XLVII with them and making the Pro Bowl seven times. He remained reasonably productive with seven sacks in 2018, but the Ravens let him walk to Arizona in the spring.
The Chiefs will be responsible for the remainder of Suggs’ one-year, $7MM deal.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/16/19
Here are today’s practice squad updates:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: K Kaare Vedvik
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: TE Alex Ellis
- Released: TE Scott Orndoff
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Spencer Schnell
- Released: WR Trevion Thompson
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/16/19
Here are today’s minor moves:
Detroit Lions
- Claimed: OL Caleb Benenoch
Miami Dolphins
- Waived/inured: CB Ken Crawley
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Promoted: WR Amara Darboh
- Waived: WR Tevin Jones
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed off Cowboys‘ practice squad: WR Cyril Grayson
Chiefs Place Alex Okafor On IR
The Chiefs picked up another win over the Broncos Sunday, but they also suffered a significant loss. On Monday, they were forced to place defensive end Alex Okafor on injured reserve with a torn pectoral muscle.
Okafor signed a three-year, $18MM deal with Kansas City this offseason, and has been playing fairly well as of late. In ten games and nine starts, he’s racked up five sacks. Before that, Okafor spent the previous two years in New Orleans, where he was a full-time starter and key part of the defensive front.
The Chiefs’ defense has started to play a lot better in recent weeks and is hitting a stride, so the timing on this certainly isn’t ideal as they gear up for their playoff run. On a positive note – they’ve claimed Terrell Suggs, who can help to replace Okafor’s presence and pass-rush ability.
Kansas City completely reinvented their pass-rush this offseason, getting rid of Justin Houston and Dee Ford and bringing in Okafor and Frank Clark. A Texas product, Okafor was originally drafted by the Cardinals in the fourth round back in 2013.
Saints Claim Janoris Jenkins
Former Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins has been claimed off waivers by the Saints. With that, they’ll take on one of the league’s top cornerback talents, the ~$1.2MM still owed to the veteran for 2019, and, perhaps, some backlash.
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The Giants cut Jenkins last week after he used a slur for the mentally challenged and issued an apology that fell short with many. Controversy aside, he represents an enormous upgrade in the secondary – the kind of addition that is rarely, if ever, found in the late states of the regular season.
Jenkins will not be eligible to play tonight, when the Saints take on the Colts. Instead, the claim will be deferred, technically speaking, until next week, when the Saints take on the Titans.
The Saints are looking to Jenkins for coverage help as they gear up for a Super Bowl run and an attempt to lock down a first-round bye. His former team, meanwhile, is ticketed for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft.
Jenkins is also under contract for 2020, though the $11.25MM he’s slated to earn next year is completely non-guaranteed. With that in mind, this profiles as a low-risk/high-reward scenario for the Saints.
The Texans and Chiefs were named as potential landing spots for the 31-year-old, but the Saints came away with the one-time Pro Bowler. Jackrabbit will now look to add on to his 84 tackles and four interceptions (already a career high) in 2019.
In addition to the Jenkins claim, the Saints promoted CB T.J. Green and DT Taylor Stallworth from the practice squad, placed CB Johnson Bademosi on IR, and waived DT T.Y. McGill.
NFL Bans Seahawks’ Josh Gordon
The NFL has suspended Josh Gordon indefinitely for violating the league’s policies on performance-enhancing substances and substances of abuse. Gordon will not suit up for the Seahawks’ final regular season games, nor their postseason game(s), and it’s possible that he’ll never take the gridiron again. 
It’s a sadly familiar refrain for Gordon, who has been suspended repeatedly throughout his NFL career. The Seahawks saw flashes of the old Flash this season and Gordon, at last check, was excited about the possibility of returning for 2020.
“Seattle is amazing,” the wide receiver said. “Football aside, I’d definitely love to live in a place like this.”
The feeling, just a few short days ago, was mutual.
“Josh has had huge games in the past,’’ head coach Pete Carroll said. “He just hasn’t gotten the ball enough yet to show that for us. But he’s done really well. Josh has been a really good guy around here in practicing and working hard and studying.”
All of that is on hold, as the wide receiver is set to do battle with the league office and his own off-the-field issues once again.
Since joining the Seahawks in early November, Gordon caught just seven passes for 139 yards and zero touchdowns. It’s a far cry from his best work, including a 2014 season in which he had 87 receptions for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns in 14 games with the Browns. It’s also a step down from his production with the Patriots (20/287/1 in six games), but Gordon showed promise, too. On Sunday against the Panthers, he torched the secondary for a spectacular 58-yard grab in the second quarter. He also lobbed a trick pass directly into the arms of safety Tre Boston, but the Seahawks still managed to come away with a 30-24 win.
At this moment, there’s only one number that truly matters: Five. That’s the number of times Gordon has been suspended for substance abuse. He’s successfully begged for the NFL’s forgiveness in the past, but this ban just might be the final straw.
Lions Put Mike Daniels, Kenny Wiggins On IR
The Lions are shutting down a couple of veterans with two games to go in their disappointing season. Defensive lineman Mike Daniels and offensive lineman Kenny Wiggins are going on injured reserve, according to Tim Twentyman of the team’s official site (Twitter link). Wiggins has a torn bicep and will undergo surgery on Tuesday, according to a tweet from Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. 
Both players went down during the team’s loss to Tampa Bay this past week. This will wrap up an extremely disappointing first season in Detroit for Daniels. He was one of the biggest names cut during training camp when the Packers suddenly released him back in July. He got a whopping $9.1MM to sign a one-year deal with the division rival Lions, and will end the season only having appeared in nine games. Even when healthy he wasn’t playing that large of a role, and he’ll finish with only ten tackles and one sack.
Daniels made a name for himself in Green Bay, and he made the Pro Bowl in 2017. When he was cut following an injury-plagued 2018 campaign, he was highly sought after on the open market. Set to turn 31 in May, he’ll likely have to settle for a cheap prove-it deal this offseason. Wiggins is a versatile vet who started all 16 games at right guard for the Chargers in 2017.
He signed a two-year, $5MM deal with Detroit before last season, and started ten games in 2018. He only started three games this year but the Lions utilized an unusual guard rotation for most of the year, so he was playing heavy snaps all season. He’s played just shy of 44 percent of the offensive snaps on the year.
Seahawks Activate Ethan Pocic From IR
The Seahawks are getting a boost as they gear up for their playoff push. The team is activating offensive lineman Ethan Pocic off injured reserve, they announced in a release.
To make room for him on the roster they officially placed running Rashaad Penny, who tore an ACL last week, on injured reserve. Pocic was placed on injured reserve after Week 6, and is now returning when first eligible after missing the requisite eight games. He had been dealing with a back issue. Pocic started the team’s opener at left guard and played 100 percent of the snaps, but injuries have limited him to just two games in his third season as a pro.
Seattle drafted him in the second round back in 2017, and he started 11 games as a rookie while appearing in all 16. An LSU product, injuries limited him to only ten appearances last year with four starts. Pocic has played all along the offensive line during his college and pro days, so he brings some valuable versatility to the unit. Normal starting center Justin Britt is on injured reserve with an ACL tear of his own, and Joey Hunt has been filling in. Now that Pocic is back, he could push Hunt for that gig soon. Either way, he’ll be a nice depth piece for the stretch run.