Browns’ Ethan Pocic To Miss Multiple Weeks
The Browns will be without a starter along the offensive line for an extended stretch. Head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed that center Ethan Pocic will miss multiple weeks as a result of a knee injury. The team has since announced that he will be placed on IR.
Pocic had played every snap so far this season before going down during the first drive of Cleveland’s loss to the Bills on Sunday. Along the way, the 27-year-old established himself as a vital member of the Browns’ offensive front, one which has paved the way for the fifth-ranked rushing attack in the league this season.
Individually, Pocic has enjoyed by far the best season of his career in terms of PFF rating. His overall grade of 83.0 is a new personal mark, up from the 67.3 he registered last season in Seattle. The LSU alum has also yet to commit a penalty across 630 snaps.
Pocic signed in Cleveland this offseason to provide experienced depth at the position, one which saw plenty of turnover for the Browns. Veteran J.C. Tretter was released in a cost-cutting move, which opened the door to Nick Harris taking on the starting role. He suffered a major knee injury during the preseason, however, forcing Pocic into the first-team spot.
While the loss of the latter will certainly be felt by the Browns given his effectiveness (particularly in the run game), the team still has its top option available at every other o-line position (tackles Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin, along with guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller). Stefanski said veteran Hjalte Froholdt will slide over from right guard to center to fill in for Pocic moving forward, as he did on Sunday. Cleveland is signing veteran Greg Mancz with the roster spot opened up by Pocic’s IR placement.
Sitting at 3-7 on the year, the Browns will test out their new combination up front against the Buccaneers in Week 12 before, in all likelihood, seeing quarterback Deshaun Watson suit up for the first time this season the following week.
Buccaneers Designate RB Giovani Bernard For Return
The Buccaneers offense could soon be getting some reinforcement. The team announced that they’ve designated running back Giovani Bernard to return from injured reserve. The Buccaneers now have three weeks to activate the running back to their active roster.
Bernard landed on injured reserve in September after suffering an ankle injury in Week 2. In his one-plus games this season, the 30-year-old exclusively played on special teams, including one kickoff return.
The RB hasn’t played a significant offensive role since joining the Buccaneers in 2021, as he finished his first season in Tampa Bay with only 181 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns on 31 touches. However, he’s only two years removed from a 2020 campaign that saw him finish with 771 yards from scrimmage. Leonard Fournette suffered a hip injury last week, but thanks to a Week 11 bye week, he should be good to go on Sunday. Rachaad White had a career day while filling in for Fournette, finishing with 105 rushing yards on 22 carries. Bernard made a name for himself as a pass-catcher in Cincinnati, and if Leonard’s hip injury lingers, the veteran could end up seeing more offensive snaps.
The Buccaneers got some more good injury news today, as guard Luke Goedeke and wideout Russell Gage returned to practice, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter). Gage has missed a month with a hamstring injury, and with the offseason acquisition now back on the field, Tom Brady will have a full grouping of wideouts heading into the final stretch of the season. Goedeke’s foot injury forced him to miss a chunk of time, and the veteran has since been jumped in the starting lineup by Nick Leverett.
Meanwhile, while safety Logan Ryan has been working out with the team, he still hasn’t been activated from injured reserve. The veteran defensive back’s foot surgery landed him on IR back in October.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/21/22
Today’s practice squad transactions:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: TE John Raine
- Placed on IR: OL Justin Shaffer
Cincinnati Bengals
- Released: LB Tegray Scales
Cleveland Browns
- Released: G Jordan Meredith
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: DT R.J. McIntosh
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: LB Benton Whitley
New England Patriots
- Signed: K Tristan Vizcaino
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: DT Jarrod Hewitt
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: WR Chris Conley, OL Eric Smith
- Released: TE Anthony Auclair
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/21/22
Here are Monday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted: DL Michael Dogbe, TE Maxx Williams
Atlanta Falcons
- Placed on IR: DL Ta’Quon Graham
- Claimed (from Texans): DL Jaleel Johnson
Cincinnati Bengals
- Designated for return: T Isaiah Prince
- Waived: WR Michael Thomas
New England Patriots
- Waived: RB J.J. Taylor
New Orleans Saints
- Waived: T Yasir Durant, DB Bryce Thompson
New York Giants
- Placed on IR: WR Wan’Dale Robinson (story)
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted: DL T.Y. McGill
Tennessee Titans
- Waived: K Josh Lambo
Commanders Activate DE Chase Young From PUP List
Stashed on the PUP list throughout the season, Chase Young is back on the Commanders’ 53-man roster. The team used the third of its eight allotted injury activations on Young, whose activation window was set to close Wednesday.
The third-year defensive end is not a lock to play against the Falcons in Week 12, however. Ron Rivera stopped short of indicating Young would suit up when first eligible. Dr. James Andrews has cleared Young medically, Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post tweets, but the Commanders will now determine if the former Defensive Rookie of the Year is in sufficient football shape to make a long-awaited return.
Practicing for the past two weeks and change, Young has been out of game action since going down with an ACL tear Nov. 14, 2021. The Commanders have slow-played the standout pass rusher’s return, and they have turned their season around in recent weeks. Young coming back could provide another boost for a team attempting to go from 1-4 to the postseason.
While Young has been eligible to come off Washington’s PUP list since Week 5, the former Heisman Trophy finalist underwent reconstructive surgery that required a graft from his left patellar tendon. That contributed to this extended timeline. This is on the long end for ACL recoveries, but given Young’s long-term importance, Washington did not try to rush him back. Buffalo has taken this approach with Tre’Davious White, who suffered a torn ACL on Thanksgiving 2021. Despite landing on the Bills’ active roster weeks ago, White has not yet made his debut. It does not sound like the Commanders plan to wait too much longer here, however.
“We will work him with the intent if he’s ready to play he’ll play,” Rivera said, via ESPN.com’s John Keim. “If not, we’ll wait another week.”
It will be interesting to see how Washington deploys Young when he does return to action. The Ohio State product was a full-time player during his first and second seasons, logging 78% and 80% defensive snap rates when available those campaigns. Young, 23, may not hit those thresholds this year but could obviously help the team even if used in a part-time capacity. Young will have plenty to prove upon return. He took a step back last season, registering just 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits in nine games. In 15 games as a rookie, Young posted 7.5 sacks, 14 QB hits, four forced fumbles and return touchdown.
The Commanders padded their sack totals in Week 11 against the Texans. Montez Sweat and Jonathan Allen recorded two sacks apiece in Houston; each has 6.5. Daron Payne has six. None of the trio has missed a game this season, helping Washington emerge as a wild-card contender despite a poor start. Young’s replacement, James Smith-Williams, has two sacks but has contributed 12 QB hits.
Lions Designate WR Jameson Williams For Return
Fresh off a victory which extended their winning streak to three games, the Lions could have a significant addition coming soon. The team announced on Monday that they have opened rookie wideout Jameson Williams‘ practice window. 
That gives him three weeks to be activated from the NFI list. If he does not return within that timeframe, he will be ineligible to play in 2022. Today’s news represents an encouraging step towards a debut in the near future, though. It also falls in line with what the team had indicated last week.
“I would say probably after Thanksgiving sometime… I think that’s tentatively what we’re looking at,” head coach Dan Campbell had said at that time on the question of bringing Williams into the fold. ” We’ll see where it goes. He’s progressing, there’s no setbacks.”
Detroit traded up in the first round to select the Alabama product with the No. 12 pick, despite knowing that his ACL tear would leave him unavailable for most of the season. The team had initially aimed for a return to the field around the midway mark of the campaign, but that proved too optimistic. Any game action from Williams would likely do wonders for the team’s offense, given the production he put up in his final college season.
The 6-2, 190-pound speedster racked up 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns while helping lead the Crimson Tide to the national title game. It was there that he suffered the injury, though it did little to hurt his draft stock. A healthy Williams would provide the Lions with their top trio at the position for the first time, joining Amon-Ra St. Brown and DJ Chark (who himself was just activated from IR).
That could help provide some stability in the passing game for the 4-6 Lions. The team ranks mid-pack with an average of 245 yards per game through the air for the season, but has fallen short of 200 yards three times in the past five games. In the near future, though, the Lions’ full array of wideouts should be available.
Broncos Place LB Jonas Griffith On IR, Activate LS Jacob Bobenmoyer
The Broncos made a number of moves leading up to their matchup with the Raiders tomorrow afternoon, according to the team’s managing editor Ben Swanson. Denver placed starting linebacker Jonas Griffith on injured reserve, replacing his roster spot with long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer after activating the special teamer from IR. The team signed offensive tackle Quinn Bailey to the active roster from the practice squad and promoted wide receiver Brandon Johnson and linebacker Harvey Langi as standard gameday elevations. 
Griffith has earned a place on one of the league’s top defenses after going undrafted in 2020 out of Indiana State. After bouncing between San Francisco and Indianapolis during his rookie season, Griffith was traded to the Broncos due to a stellar preseason before the 2021 season. An impressive first year in Denver with four starts in 13 game appearance led the team to tender him an exclusive-rights free agent offer. In his second season with the team, Griffith has started eight of the Broncos’ nine games. He’s nearly matched his entire production from last season at just past the halfway point of this season.
Unfortunately, that may be all of the season that Griffith sees. After aggravating a foot injury this week in practice, Griffith is headed to IR and expected to stay there for the remainder of the season, according to Mike Klis of 9NEWS. His injury piles onto a season-long issue for the Broncos who now have 13 players on IR and have seen missed time from several other contributors. In his absence, Alex Singleton will likely take the starting spot next to Josey Jewell at inside linebacker, possibly getting some help from Langi who could make his Broncos debut after joining the team’s practice squad over a month ago.
Bobenmoyer is set to return after sitting out the four games required before returning from IR. Bobenmoyer found himself on the injured list after suffering an injury to the hand/wrist area in a Week 5 overtime loss to the Colts. Bobenmoyer was replaced by practice squad long snapper Mitchell Fraboni who filled in well during the four weeks Bobenmoyer was out until getting placed on IR himself with a fractured finger. Bobenmoyer’s return comes just in time, helping the Broncos avoid the use of a third long snapper in just one season.
Johnson could make his NFL debut this week as a gameday elevation. The undrafted rookie, who caught 11 touchdowns for UCF last year, started the season on IR before getting waived with an injury settlement shortly after the start of the season. He returned to the practice squad about a month ago and could end up making an impact as starting wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler have been listed as out for tomorrow, Tim Patrick remains on IR, and Kendall Hinton is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury. Denver could be operating with a total of four healthy receivers in Courtland Sutton, Jalen Virgil, Montrell Washington, and Johnson if Hinton is not available.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/19/22
The league’s minor moves leading up to gameday:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed to active roster: RB Corey Clement
Atlanta Falcons
- Promoted from practice squad: OL Ryan Neuzil, WR Frank Darby
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted from practice squad: CB Daryl Worley
Buffalo Bills
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Tanner Gentry, CB Xavier Rhodes
Chicago Bears
- Promoted from practice squad: RB Darrynton Evans
Dallas Cowboys
- Promoted from practice squad: G Dakoda Shepley
Detroit Lions
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Stanley Berryhill
- Waived: S JuJu Hughes
Houston Texans
- Activated from IR: Michael Dwumfour
- Promoted from practice squad: DB Jacobi Francis, DB Will Redmond
- Waived: DL Jaleel Johnson
Indianapolis Colts
- Promoted from practice squad: DE Kameron Cline, TE Nikola Kalinic
Kansas City Chiefs
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Marcus Kemp, WR Cornell Powell
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted from practice squad: CB Tyler Hall
Los Angeles Chargers
- Activated from NFI: TE Stone Smartt
- Signed to active roster: DL Joe Gaziano
- Promoted from practice squad: K Cameron Dicker, T Foster Sarell
- Waived: WR Keelan Doss
Los Angeles Rams
- Signed to active roster: WR Jacob Harris
- Promoted from practice squad: T AJ Arcuri, G Jeremiah Kolone
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed to active roster: TE Nick Muse
- Promoted from practice squad: CB Tay Gowan
- Waived: OLB Benton Whitley
New Orleans Saints
- Signed to active roster: G Yasir Durant, DB Bryce Thompson
- Promoted from practice squad: DE Jabari Zuniga
- Waived: TE J.P. Holtz, Nick Vannett
New York Giants
- Promoted from practice squad: TE Lawrence Cager
New York Jets
- Promoted from practice squad: DL Tanzel Smart, OL Conor McDermott
Washington Commanders
- Promoted from practice squad: LB Nathan Gerry
- Placed on IR: TE Armani Rogers
Panthers Activate S Jeremy Chinn From IR
The Panthers will have Jeremy Chinn back in uniform in Week 11. They activated the veteran safety from injured reserve Saturday. Chinn has missed more than the four-game IR minimum, having last played in Week 4.
Playing both safety and linebacker during his two-plus seasons as a pro, Chinn has been one of Carolina’s most productive players since entering the league as a second-round draftee. The Panthers included Chinn among their top assets ahead of the trade deadline, protecting him alongside the likes of Brian Burns, D.J. Moore, Derrick Brown and Jaycee Horn.
Unlike that batch of recent first-round picks, Chinn has missed much of this season. He went down six plays into Carolina’s Week 4 game with a hamstring injury he later admitted was more severe than he initially realized. This abbreviated season stands to stall Chinn’s run of 100-tackle campaigns. He joins only linebackers Luke Kuechly and Jon Beason among Panthers who have begun their careers with consecutive 100-stop slates.
Chinn will slot back in alongside Xavier Woods at safety. The Panthers’ primary Chinn fill-in, Myles Hartsfield, is out for Sunday’s game against the Ravens because of an ankle injury. Carolina is still in good shape in terms of injury activations; the Chinn move only represents the team’s third of its allotted eight this season.
In addition to the Chinn activation, the Panthers signed linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe to their active roster from the practice squad and made cornerback T.J. Carrie and defensive tackle Phil Hoskins their two gameday elevations. Iyiegbuniwe will take the roster spot of linebacker Arron Mosby, whom the team waived Saturday.
Patriots Place P Jake Bailey On IR, Sign P Michael Palardy
The Patriots will shut down their punter for a while. They placed Jake Bailey on IR and signed veteran Michael Palardy from their practice squad to the active roster, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Midway through his fourth season as the Patriots’ punter, Bailey is battling a back injury. The team will need to have other plans at punter for at least four games. These will be Bailey’s first missed games as a pro.
Despite veteran Ryan Allen engaging in a rather high-stakes punting duel with perennial All-Pro Johnny Hekker in Super Bowl LIII, the Pats made a change at that position ahead of the 2019 season. They drafted Bailey in the fifth round and jettisoned their six-year incumbent. Bailey has become one of the league’s better punters since taking over.
A Stanford product, Bailey earned first-team All-Pro recognition in 2020, when he averaged a career-high 48.3 yards per punt. After posting a 47.3-yard average last season, Bailey has seen his per-boot number drop to 42.1 this year — last in the league. Bailey finished fourth and ninth in this category in 2020 and ’21, respectively.
Palardy, 30, has not punted in a game this season. He has held steady gigs previously, most recently serving as the Dolphins’ punter in 16 games last season. Also Carolina’s punter from 2016-19, Palardy averaged 44.7 yards per punt with Miami. New England added Palardy to its practice squad earlier this month.