Panthers Place Taylor Heinicke On IR
The Panthers have a new quarterback. On Wednesday, Carolina placed Taylor Heinicke on injured reserve and signed Garrett Gilbert to replace him. 
Heinicke took over as the starting QB after Cam Newton was shut down due to a shoulder injury. Then, on Sunday against the Falcons, Heinicke fell hard on his elbow in the second quarter. He mustered up the courage to return to the game after a brief exit, but a Wednesday morning MRI revealed a serious injury for the fill-in and it will necessitate a stint on the IR.
With Gilbert in the fold, the Panthers now have two healthy QBs in Heinicke and Kyle Allen. Allen, in all likelihood, will get the start in the Panthers’ season finale.
Gilbert, meanwhile, offers some familiarity with the Panthers’ offense since he was with the team in the in 2017 and the 2018 offseason. For now, he’ll put his opportunity with Orlando Apollos of the AAF on hold for a chance to prove himself on the NFL’s gridiron.
Colts Sign TE Erik Swoope
The Colts signed tight end Erik Swoope to the practice squad, according to a team announcement. Swoope will serve as insurance in case tight end Eric Ebron is not cleared from concussion protocol before Sunday night’s pivotal game against the Titans. 
Swoope originally signed with the Colts as an undrafted free agent in March of 2014. He made his first real impact in 2016, when he caught 15 passes for 197 yards and one touchdown. After losing his 2017 season to a knee issue, he returned this year to appear in seven games and catch eight passes for 87 yards and three scores.
The Colts dropped Swoope a few weeks ago, but he’s back to serve as a potential backstop for a crucial win-and-in contest. As of this writing, Mo Alie-Cox and Ryan Hewitt are the only other healthy tight ends on the active roster.
To make room for Swoope, the Colts dropped quarterback Phillip Walker from the practice squad.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/25/18
Multiple teams reorganized their practice squads on Christmas.
Arizona Cardinals
- Released: S Fish Smithson
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: WR Malik Turner
Cardinals Place T Korey Cunningham On IR
The other part of the Cardinals’ D.J. Swearinger transaction will send rookie tackle Korey Cunningham to IR. A foot injury will end Cunningham’s season.
While an IR move going into Week 17 may merely be procedural, Cunningham has served as Arizona’s starter at left tackle for the past six games. He will add to the long list of Cardinal blockers on IR.
The Cards have lost starters A.Q. Shipley, D.J. Humphries, Justin Pugh and Mike Iupati, along with fill-in starter John Wetzel, this season — a miserable one for Arizona’s offense. The Cardinals rank last in points and yards; the team ending the season at the bottom of both categories would mark a first for the franchise in the Super Bowl era.
Cunningham played 349 snaps this season and started nearly half of the way, doing so despite being picked at No. 254 this year.
D.J. Swearinger Claimed By The Cardinals
It didn’t take long for former Redskins safety D.J. Swearinger to find a new suitor. Less than a day after being released by Washington, the veteran defender announced he was joining the Cardinals in a post on Instagram. 
The Cardinals had priority for waiver claims and didn’t want to take the chance on the South Carolina product being tabbed by another team.
In the post, Swearinger addressed his release from the Redskins after he criticized defensive coordinator Greg Manusky’s playcalling in a loss at Tennessee.
“I Gave That Organization My Heart And Soul And They Spit In My Face For Giving My Opinion Only To Better The Team!! Right Wrong Or Indifferent I’ve Found My Peace And Learned From It And I Am So Excited To Go Back To The Sunny Desert Arizona Like I Never Left!”
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden addressed Swearinger’s release by saying:
“We made it pretty clear that we try to keep our business within these walls,” Gruden said, “and we’ve had many a talk before about that and unfortunately he chose to go to the media again and talk about his displeasure with some of the calls. I know Coach Manusky works extremely hard, as does the rest of the staff, to put together a game plan, and unfortunately we didn’t get it done.”
By joining the Cardinals, Swearinger returns to Arizona where he spent parts of two seasons before joining Washington. In 2016, the defender impressed with 64 tackles, three interceptions and two sacks, earning him a three-year, $13.5MM deal with the Redskins. The Redskins will save $4.5MM off their 2019 salary cap with the move, and the Cardinals will be responsible for paying his $176K paycheck for Week 17.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/24/18
Today’s practice squad moves as the regular season winds down, with two AFC South teams shuffling their taxi squads:
Houston Texans:
- Signed: LB Chris Landrum
- Released: LB Kennan Gilchrist
Tennessee Titans:
- Signed: DL Kendal Vickers, WR Kalif Raymond
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/24/18
Here are the NFL’s minor moves on Christmas Eve:
Dallas Cowboys
- Activated off IR: CB C.J. Goodwin
- Waived: WR Lance Lenoir
Oakland Raiders
- Promoted from practice squad: TE Paul Butler, S Dallin Leavitt
- Placed on IR: CB Daryl Worley
- Waived: DE Damontre Moore
Tennessee Titans
- Promoted from practice squad: LB LaTroy Lewis
- Placed on IR: TE Cole Wick
Texans To Place Thomas, Webster On IR
Demaryius Thomas‘ season is over. The Texans will place their No. 2 wide receiver on IR after he suffered an Achilles injury Sunday.
Interestingly, Kayvon Webster will head back to IR as well. The Texans just brought Webster off IR on Saturday but lost the cornerback during the game to a thigh injury. Houston also placed linebacker Brian Peters on IR and promoted wide receiver Steven Mitchell to the active roster from its practice squad.
Teammates from 2013-16 in Denver, Thomas and Webster’s Houston futures are uncertain. The Texans may well have been unlikely to keep Thomas on his lofty contract — which includes a non-guaranteed $14MM base salary in 2019 — before his injury, which is believed to be a torn Achilles. Now that he will have to undergo a significant rehab endeavor, the soon-to-be 31-year-old wideout likely will not be part of the 2019 Texans.
Thomas’ ninth NFL season will end with 59 receptions for 677 yards, the bulk of those coming with the Broncos, and five touchdowns. The 2010 first-round pick made four Pro Bowls between 2012-16 and amassed at least 900 receiving yards from 2012-17. He has not missed a game since early in the 2011 slate, having started 111 consecutive games since the start of the ’12 season.
The Texans added Webster late in the offseason. He ended up playing in just two games, suffering multiple injuries that will result in two separate IR stays this season. The sixth-year cornerback, who suffered a season-ending injury in 2017 as well, will be a free agent at season’s end.
Eagles To Activate Mike Wallace From IR
The Eagles are not assured of continuing their Super Bowl title defense past Week 17, but they will add a key reinforcement going into their final regular-season game.
Mike Wallace will be activated from IR, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The Eagles also promoted cornerback Josh Hawkins from their practice squad, and NFL reporter Geoff Mosher tweets Philadelphia waived corners De’Vante Bausby and Chandon Sullivan to make room on its 53-man roster.
The Wallace move is interesting considering he did not return to practice before this activation. Teams are given three weeks’ worth of evaluation time for IR-return candidates to practice in order to determine if they will return to the active roster or remain on IR for the rest of the season. With the Eagles in win-or-go-home (with help required) territory, they are moving fast to an all-hands-on-deck approach, it appears.
Wallace has only played in two games with the Eagles, his fifth NFL team. The veteran deep threat suffered a broken fibula in Week 2. He will join a team that now has Golden Tate in the fold, with the Eagles’ Tate-Wallace-Alshon Jeffery–Nelson Agholor–Jordan Matthews top five serving as one of the most experienced groups in the game.
The Eagles added Wallace on a one-year, $1.9MM deal that bumped up to north of $2.5MM thanks to at least one easily attainable incentive. However, Philly may end up getting three games from Wallace. The Eagles must beat the Redskins, who they defeated in Washington three weeks ago, and have the Bears topple the Vikings to make the playoffs.
Seahawks Sign Pete Carroll To Extension
The day after Pete Carroll steered the Seahawks to another NFC playoff bracket, he signed an extension to stay with the team long-term.
The Seahawks announced they now have their head coach under contract through 2021. This deal will be worth more than $11MM per year, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter), keeping Carroll among the NFL’s highest-paid coaches.
Carroll’s previous Seahawks contract, signed in 2016, ran through next season. Both Carroll and GM John Schneider are now locked up through 2021. Contract talks began last week, Carroll said (via the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta, on Twitter) and obviously progressed quickly.
The most successful coach in Seahawks history, Carroll has now piloted teams to the playoffs in seven of his nine Seattle seasons. Given the expectations going into this season, this latest berth may be the veteran coach’s most impressive work. Viewed as a rebuilding team after jettisoning many Super Bowl-era cornerstones, the Seahawks are 9-6 and likely set for the NFC’s No. 5 seed. Seattle has defeated other playoff-qualifying teams, its best win coming Sunday night against likely AFC No. 1 seed Kansas City.
The oldest active NFL head coach at 67, Carroll said at the end of last season he was not considering retirement. Carroll retooled his coaching staff, replacing coordinators Darrell Bevell and Kris Richard with Brian Schottenheimer and Ken Norton Jr., and helped oversee significant roster turnover. The Seahawks have quickly moved into a Russell Wilson-centric era — playing 2018 without the likes of Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor and, for the most part, Earl Thomas — and may be a dangerous underdog next month.
Formerly the Jets’ and Patriots’ HC, Carroll has now passed Mike Holmgren as the Seahawks’ winningest coach. He is 88-54-1 running the Seahawks after going 33-31 in four combined 1990s seasons in the AFC East. In between, Carroll revitalized the USC program, winning two national championships.
With more than $63MM in projected 2019 cap space, the swiftly reloaded Seahawks could be an interesting team this offseason. And their longtime Schneider-Carroll power structure will oversee matters for the foreseeable future.