Panthers To Place Damiere Byrd On IR
Panthers wide receiver/punt returner Damiere Byrd suffered a broken arm in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). With only five weeks to go in the regular season, the Panthers will place Byrd on injured reserve. 
Byrd, 25, has just one catch to date, but he been a special teams contributor with eleven punt returns for 104 yards on the year. Without him, the Panthers may look to sign another wide receiver, though they have five others already on the roster. Rookie D.J. Moore can also step in to handle punts, so they don’t necessarily have to add a returner.
Byrd isn’t a superstar in Carolina, but the Panthers can ill afford any setbacks as they make their playoff push. The NFC South title is pretty much out of the question and they’ll have to fight their way through a crowded Wild Card picture to make the postseason. Thanks to a three-game losing streak, the 8-4 squad has just a 31% chance of making the postseason, according to FiveThirtyEight.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/26/18
Today’s practice squad updates:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: WR Montay Crockett
Chicago Bears
- Signed: DB John Franklin III
Detroit Lions
- Released: DB Horace Richardson
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: WR Teo Redding
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: TE Je’Ron Hamm, QB Phillip Walker
- Released: DE Anthony Winbush
New York Giants
- Released: K Marshall Koehn
Oakland Raiders
- Released: CB Arrion Springs
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: LB James Onwualu
Washington Redskins
- Released: T Jarron Jones
Steelers Designate LB Olasunkanmi Adeniyi For Return
The Steelers have designated rookie outside linebacker Olasunkanmi Adeniyi to return from injured reserve, according to Curtis Crabtree of Pro Football Talk.
Adeniyi played three seasons as Toledo before entering the 2018 draft with a year of eligibility remaining. Last year, Adeiniyi played in 14 games for the Rockets and posted 8.5 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles on the way to being named second team All-MAC. In his pre-draft profile of Adeniyi, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com called the now-21-year-old a “high effort player” who nonetheless lacks exceptional athletic talent.
Pittsburgh thought enough of Adeniyi’s work during the preseason to keep him on its initial 53-man roster, a move that now makes him eligible to return from injured reserve. Now that Adeniyi is back at practice, the Steelers have a three-week window during which they must either activate Adeniyi, or leave him on IR for the remainder of the season.
The Steelers don’t necessarily need any help on the edge, as they rank first in the NFL in sacks and second in pressure rate. Adeniyi, if activated, would likely serve as depth behind T.J. Watt, Bud Dupree, and Anthony Chickillo while also playing on special teams.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/26/18
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Claimed off waivers (Seahawks): TE Darrell Daniels
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: DB Darian Thompson
New York Giants
- Signed: TE Garrett Dickerson
- Placed on injured reserve: WR Quadree Henderson
Oakland Raiders
- Signed off Ravens’ practice squad: TE Darren Waller
- Waived: WR Johnny Holton
- Placed on injured reserve: DE Jacquies Smith
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DE Demone Harris
- Waived: S Godwin Igwebuike
Patriots Activate Rex Burkhead From IR
New England’s backfield will soon be the deepest it’s been since the start of this season. Rex Burkhead will likely be in uniform Sunday after the Patriots activated him from IR, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
The Patriots will waive offensive lineman Matt Tobin to make room on their roster, per ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss (on Twitter).
This season hasn’t been the smoothest for the Pats’ backfield. Sony Michel has missed time due to injury, and Jeremy Hill was lost for the season after Week 1. Burkhead suffered a neck injury later in September and went to IR. He returned to practice nearly three weeks ago, and the Patriots just beat the three-week window they had to activate their utility back.
Burkhead played a key role for the AFC champion Pats last season, totaling 518 yards from scrimmage and scoring eight touchdowns. He missed six games due to injury a year ago. He’ll join Michel and James White in a Patriots running back corps that’s starting to resemble well-rounded groups of past Pats teams.
Bengals Place Andy Dalton On IR
Andy Dalton‘s thumb injury will end his season. The Bengals will place their starting quarterback on IR, Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports (on Twitter).
Cincinnati also claimed Tom Savage off waivers from the 49ers, per Dehner (on Twitter). Jeff Driskel, who took his first NFL snaps this season, will be in line to start the rest of the way for Cincinnati. This may deal a massive blow to the Bengals’ fleeting playoff hopes.
Torn thumb ligaments will cause Dalton to venture to IR, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). It’s not known if a surgery is scheduled, but that would be logical given the IR announcement. This malady forced Dalton out of the Bengals’ Week 12 loss, but it was initially reported the eighth-year quarterback did not suffer a break. Still, he will head to IR for the first time in his career.
Dalton has missed just three games in his career — all in 2015, which crushed probably the best Bengals team in the past 30 years — and the Bengals did not invest much in a backup quarterback this offseason. A.J. McCarron departed via free agency, but the Bengals retained Driskel and essentially promoted him to QB2.
The Bengals started out 4-1 but have lost five of their past six games. Dalton did not finish losses against the Saints and Browns, the former because of the nature of the game. He was enjoying a better season than he produced in 2017, throwing 21 touchdown passes and holding a 64.6 Total QBR — nearly 20 points better than his 2017 mark.
Dalton had cooled off, though, since Cincy’s hot start, failing to eclipse 160 passing yards in three of his past five starts — the most recent such instance because of his injury. A.J. Green‘s absence had plenty to do with this, but while the Bengals’ top player may be ready to return in Week 13 against the Broncos, Driskel (36 career pass attempts) will be throwing him passes.
Driskel began his college career at Florida before transferring to Louisiana Tech. He landed with the 49ers in 2016 as a UDFA.
Savage spent parts of this season with the 49ers but was jettisoned multiple times, the most recent cut coming Saturday. He was the Texans’ opening day starter in 2017, but Deshaun Watson quickly replaced him. After Watson’s injury, Savage returned. He finished last season with 1,412 passing yards, five touchdown throws and six INTs.
Lions To Place WR Marvin Jones On IR
Marvin Jones‘ third Lions season will come to an end early. Detroit will place the veteran wide receiver on IR, Justin Rogers of the Detroit News tweets.
A knee injury has sidelined Jones in recent weeks. The Lions are signing linebacker Nicholas Grigsby to fill Jones’ roster spot, per Rogers (on Twitter).
Detroit dealt Golden Tate to Philadelphia this season but soon after lost Jones to injury. The 2017 Lions saw both players exceed 1,000 yards, making them the only 1,000-1,000 receiver tandem last season, but this year’s group will play without both the rest of the way. Kenny Golladay will take over as the Lions’ No. 1 wideout.
Signed through 2020 on his $40MM deal, Jones had played in 31 regular-season games with Detroit from 2016-17. He’ll end up missing seven this season. The 28-year-old wideout caught 35 passes for 508 yards and five touchdowns this season.
Cardinals Cut Andre Smith, Bene Benwikere
The Cardinals made a host of moves Monday afternoon. Another of Patrick Peterson‘s top sidekicks is now out of the picture, with Arizona making the decision to waive cornerback Bene Benwikere.
Additionally, the Cards are cutting veteran tackle Andre Smith. They also placed Phil Dawson and linebacker Josh Bynes on IR and are elevating kicker Zane Gonzalez from the practice squad. The team announced the moves.
Smith’s inconsistency will end his Arizona tenure, per Steve Wilks (via ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss, on Twitter). He started eight games at right tackle for the Cardinals, including Sunday’s 45-10 loss to the Chargers, but has not played to the level he displayed during his earlier Bengals days. The 31-year-old edge blocker will head to the waiver wire, joining the less experienced Benwikere.
The Cards already parted ways with Jamar Taylor, acquired in hopes he could fill the Peterson-sidekick role the team has long had issues with, after Benwikere beat him out for that job. The young journeyman started eight Arizona games this season, intercepting one pass and making 51 tackles. Benwikere’s eight starts represent a career high in his five-season NFL run.
Dawson’s been dealing with a hip injury this season. It forced the 43-year-old kicker to miss a game earlier this month. The Cardinals’ kicker over the past two seasons, the 20-year veteran is a free agent after this season. He’s attempted a career-low eight field goals, making five. This will end Dawson’s least accurate season.
Previously going with rookie Matthew McCrane to fill in for Dawson, the Cardinals will now turn to Gonzalez. The Browns waived Gonzalez after a rough Week 2. The 2017 seventh-round pick has not kicked in a game since.
Despite being retained on a low-level deal, Bynes was playing ahead of both Deone Bucannon and Haason Reddick this season. He made 75 tackles, registered two sacks and returned a fumble for a touchdown in a standout season. Bynes is signed through the 2020 season.
Reuben Foster Arrested For Domestic Violence, Cut By 49ers
49ers linebacker Reuben Foster was arrested at the team hotel in Tampa Bay at 9:10pm last night on one count of first-degree misdemeanor domestic-violence battery, as Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle (among others) reports. The 49ers announced that they will waive the 2017 first-rounder.
Foster was held without bail overnight, but has since been released on $2K bail, as Greg Auman of The Athletic tweets. The judge also ordered that Foster have no contact with the alleged victim, who has been identified as Elissa Ennis. As those who have followed Foster’s brief but troubled NFL career will recall, Ennis is the same woman who accused Foster of striking her last February, which led to Foster’s arrest. The domestic violence charges stemming from that arrest were then dropped after Ennis recanted her allegations and admitted that the injuries she sustained were actually suffered during a fight with another woman or two women.
In a statement, Tampa Police said Foster and Ennis — whom the statement identified as a “female victim” — have been involved “in an on-again-off-again relationship over the past three years.” The statement said the two were engaged in a verbal altercation and that “Foster slapped [Ennis’] phone out of her hand, pushed her in the chest area, and slapped her with an open hand on the left side of her face. Officers observed a one-inch scratch on the victim’s left collarbone.”
Foster’s February arrest — which also included a weapons charge that led to 232 hours of community service and two years of probation — came just a few weeks after he was arrested for possession of marijuana. Though the marijuana charge and the domestic violence charges were dropped, Foster was still suspended for the first two games of the 2018 regular season for violating the league’s conduct and substance abuse policies. Of course, his draft stock fell following injuries and several incidents at the 2017 scouting combine, but the 49ers made him the 31st-overall pick of the 2017 draft anyway. It initially appeared that they would be rewarded for their gamble, as Foster performed quite well in his 10-game rookie campaign, which was shortened due to an injury he sustained in the 2017 opener.
This year, in addition to his two-game suspension, Foster had also missed a pair of games due to a hamstring injury and was questionable for the team’s contest against Tampa Bay this afternoon. Given his obvious talent, and given the fact that the current allegations were made by the same woman who admitted she fabricated previous allegations, it will be interesting to see if any teams put in a waiver claim. He will officially hit waivers at 4pm ET tomorrow.
Cardinals Promote QB Chad Kanoff
The Cardinals made an interesting move today, promoting quarterback Chad Kanoff from the practice squad to the active roster, according to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com.
To make room for Kanoff on the roster, the team waived wide receiver Jalen Tolliver. It’s a curious decision considering the Cardinals already have Josh Rosen and Mike Glennon firmly established on the roster. Neither Rosen nor Glennon were listed on the injury report this week, so it’s not a health-related matter. It’s possible another team was planning on signing Kanoff off their practice squad and the Cardinals made the move preemptively to block it.
Kanoff, an undrafted free agent rookie from Princeton, went 15 for 36 for 178 yards and one touchdown this preseason. The Cardinals apparently liked him enough to keep him around as the fourth quarterback, behind Rosen, Glennon, and Sam Bradford. The team released Bradford a couple of weeks ago, giving Kanoff an opening. Kanoff broke many Princeton and Ivy League records during his college career, and was a popular sleeper pick among some in the draft community. It’s possible he could develop into Rosen’s backup of the future.
Tolliver, also an undrafted rookie out of tiny Division II school Arkansas-Monticello, had just been promoted from the practice squad earlier this week. It’s likely he winds up back on the practice squad, taking the opening created by Kanoff.