Redskins Place Montae Nicholson On Reserve List
Redskins safety Montae Nicholson has been placed on the reserve list following his arrest for assault and battery. The move may have been prompted by the leaked footage (via TMZ) which appears to show Nicholson brutally assaulting another man and knocking him unconscious. 
Police say Nicholson and a female assaulted two people — a man and a woman. Nicholson alleged assault put the male victim in the hospital with serious injuries, though they are not believed to be life-threatening.
Nicholson, 23, was drafted in the fourth round of the 2017 draft. TheMichigan State product started six games as a rookie and the Redskins’ first seven this year. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix replaced Nicholson in the Redskins’ starting lineup midseason, but the second-year player has played in each of Washington’s 14 games, making 41 tackles.
It seems likely that Nicholson will face league suspension for the incident and his future with the team may be in jeopardy.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/18/18
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: CB Jonathan Moxey
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: S Chris Cooper
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: OL Kyle Friend
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: DL Eric Cotton, CB D.J. Killings
- Placed on PS-IR: TE Ethan Wolf
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: LB Tegray Scales
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: FB Dimitri Flowers, WR Jordan Veasy
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DE Farrington Huguenin
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: OLB Gimel President
Washington Redskins
- Signed: RB Russell Hansbrough
NFL Workout Updates: 12/18/18
Here is the latest from the workout circuit, all links going to Adam Caplan of Sirius XM Radio’s Twitter account (unless otherwise noted).
Arizona Cardinals
- S Shamarko Thomas (link)
Buffalo Bills
- QB Garrett Gilbert, TE Erik Swoope (visit), QB Logan Woodside (Twitter links via ESPN.com’s Mike Rodak and Field Yates)
Green Bay Packers
- QB Paxton Lynch (link)
Los Angeles Chargers
- DE Avery Ellis (link)
San Francisco 49ers
- DE Terence Fede, LB Lorenzo Mauldin (link)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- DE Farrington Huguenin (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Greg Auman)
Washington Redskins
- CB Dexter McDougle (Twitter link via Yahoo.com’s Jordan Schultz)
Minor NFL Transactions: 12/18/18
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Promoted from practice squad: CB Chris Jones, CB Deatrick Nichols
- Waived: CB Dontae Johnson, CB Quinten Rollins
Atlanta Falcons
- Promoted from practice squad: RB Jeremy Langford
Buffalo Bills
- Signed off 49ers’ practice squad: WR Victor Bolden
- Placed on IR: RB Marcus Murphy
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted from practice squad: LB Chris Worley
- Placed on IR: LB Malik Jefferson
Detroit Lions
- Promoted from practice squad: DT John Atkins
- Placed on IR: DL Da’Shawn Hand
Green Bay Packers
- Signed off Jaguars’ practice squad: WR Allen Lazard
Miami Dolphins
- Signed off Panthers’ practice squad: DT Kendrick Norton
New York Giants
- Placed on IR: CB Antonio Hamilton
New York Jets
- Signed off Patriots’ practice squad: T Eric Smith
Oakland Raiders
- Promoted from practice squad: DB Rico Gafford, DT Gabe Wright
- Waived: LB Emmanuel Lamur
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DB Tyvis Powell
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed off Jaguars’ practice squad: RB Bo Scarbrough
- Placed on IR: G Jordan Simmons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Promoted from practice squad: TE Donnie Ernsberger, DL Jeremiah Ledbetter
- Placed on IR: TE Alan Cross, S Justin Evans
Washington Redskins
- Signed: DB Harlan Miller
- Placed on IR: CB Joshua Holsey
Redskins S Montae Nicholson Arrested
A 13-game starter for the Redskins over the past two seasons at safety, Montae Nicholson was arrested Tuesday morning on an assault and battery charge, Trevor Baratko of the Loudoun (Va.) Times reports.
Authorities allege Nicholson and a female, Sydney Maggiore, assaulted two people — a man and a woman. Nicholson allegedly assaulted the male victim, while Maggiore struck both, according to police. Nicholson was also hit with a drunk in public charge, while Maggiore is facing malicious wounding and assault and battery charges. The two victims were hospitalized with serious injuries, though they were not considered life-threatening, Baratko reports.
This incident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., and began when either Nicholson or Maggiore honked a horn at the victims. Verbal and physical confrontations followed, per authorities. The 23-year-old Nicholson was released from Loudoun County Adult Detention Center today.
Washington drafted Nicholson in the 2017 fourth round out of Michigan State. The defensive back started six games as a rookie and the Redskins’ first seven this year. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix replaced Nicholson in the Redskins’ starting lineup midseason, but the second-year player has played in each of Washington’s 14 games, making 41 tackles.
Packers Claim RB Kapri Bibbs
Potentially set to be without Aaron Jones for the final two games of the season, the Packers brought in some help.
The Packers claimed running back Kapri Bibbs off waivers from the Redskins, who cut him on Saturday. He had spent this season playing a part-time role behind Adrian Peterson, doing so while Chris Thompson battled a rib injury.
Bibbs has spent the past two seasons in Washington. He notched 20 carries for 101 yards this year and caught 13 passes for 102. The former UDFA began his career in Denver, seeing brief action for the Broncos’ 2015 Super Bowl team and playing in 12 games a year later. The Broncos traded Bibbs to the 49ers on 2017 draft weekend, but San Francisco cut him prior to the regular season.
Prior to the Bibbs addition, only Jamaal Williams resided as a healthy Packers running back. Green Bay also has Malcolm Johnson and Lavon Coleman on its practice squad.
Latest On Jay Gruden, Alex Smith
It is difficult to blame Redskins head coach Jay Gruden for the team’s slide out of the playoff race this year given the spate of injuries that he has had to contend with, but he was mentioned as a hot seat candidate before the season even began — despite a 2017 campaign that was also marred by injury — so it stands to reason that his future with the club is questionable at best. Indeed, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network (video link) reports that Washington’s assistant coaches have become increasingly worried about their own futures, and a number of them have made calls around the league to determine what other options they might have in 2019.
Rapoport makes it clear that the team has made no decision on Gruden one way or another, though the behind-the-scenes activity RapSheet is describing does not paint a very promising picture. Gruden, though, is likely to land on his feet as a coordinator or perhaps even as a head coach in 2019, and he says he is not allowing his future distract him. Gruden said (via John Keim of ESPN.com), “It doesn’t weigh on me at all. I’ll wait to get final word when the season is over.”
Gruden is under contract through the 2020 campaign thanks to a two-year extension signed in 2016 that includes $10MM in fully-guaranteed money, but he is already the longest-tenured head coach that the team has had under owner Dan Snyder, and assuming Josh Johnson does not pull off a miraculous stretch run, the Redskins will miss the playoffs for the third consecutive year. And, as might be expected when a team is going through the type of struggles the Redskins are battling, there is a perception that Gruden has lost the locker room, though he adamantly refutes that notion.
The team’s season really went south, of course, when starting quarterback Alex Smith suffered a brutal leg injury in November. Per Keim and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Smith has finally been released from the hospital, and while there is still of course no certainty as to whether he will be able to resume his playing career, the prognosis is encouraging. If Smith were unable to play again, the Redskins would be dealing with a potentially calamitous financial and on-field situation, which Gruden may be happy to get out of.
Redskins Waive Kapri Bibbs, Make Several Other Moves
The Redskins are still alive in the NFC playoff race, but their hopes are dwindling fast as they’ve dealt with an onslaught of injuries. Now on the eve of their must win game against the Jaguars, Washington is shuffling the bottom of their roster.
The team waived running back Kapri Bibbs and defensive end Marcus Smith, and promoted tight end Matt Flanagan and defensive back Joshua Holsey from the practice squad to take their spots on the roster, the team announced via Twitter. They also placed long snapper Nick Sundberg on injured reserve, and signed long snapper Andrew East to replace him.
Bibbs has actually received some pretty significant playing time at times over the past two seasons, so his release is a bit of a surprise. This year he had carried 20 times for 101 yards and three touchdowns, and caught 13 passes for 102 yards and another touchdown. Smith, a first round pick of the Eagles back in 2014, just was signed a couple of weeks ago.
Flanagan is an undrafted rookie from Pitt who is primarily a blocking tight end, and Holsey was a seventh round pick of the Redskins in 2017. Flanagan was likely promoted because starting tight end Jordan Reed is going to miss some time with a toe injury. If the Redskins lose to Jacksonville and fall out of playoff contention, it’s quite possible both youngsters receive some run down the stretch.
Saints Sign WR Simmie Cobbs
The Saints signed wide receiver Simmie Cobbs off of the Redskins’ practice squad, a source tells Nick Underhill of The Advocate (on Twitter). Cobbs will take the roster spot of tight end Erik Swoope, who was informed of his release on Thursday. 
Cobbs was an all-Big Ten receiver at Indiana and caught 72 passes for 841 yards in 2017. He’s an intriguing pickup for a Saints team that has lost several big-name receivers to injury throughout the year.
For now, Cobbs will slot in as the Saints’ No. 6 receiver behind Michael Thomas, Tre’Quan Smith, Austin Carr, Keith Kirkwood, and Tommylee Lewis. Earlier this week, veteran Brandon Marshall was dropped from the roster, so there’s room for reinforcements.
The addition of Cobbs could mean that wide receiver Ted Ginn will not be activated from IR before the year is through. Then again, given all of the Saints’ roster juggling in recent days, nothing can be ruled out. Swoope’s stay in New Orleans lasted less than 24 hours and there’s no guarantee that Cobbs will get to take his coat off and stay awhile if Ginn is given the greenlight.
The Saints, who have already clinched the NFC South, can virtually clinch a first round bye with a win over the Panthers on Sunday. A win in Carolina coupled with a Bears loss in Green Bay would completely seal the deal for the Saints, allowing them to rest any banged up players in the final two weeks.
Fritz Pollard Alliance Recommends GM Candidates
The Fritz Pollard Alliance has released its annual list of minority candidates for general manager vacancies. Much like the latest batch of recommended coaching hires, the suggested GM list is more than twice as long as last year’s. 
[RELATED: Fritz Pollard Alliance Recommends Head Coaching Candidates]
Here’s the full rundown, via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link):
- Ray Agnew (Rams)
- Joey Clinkscales (Raiders)
- Quentin Harris (Cardinals)
- Alonzo Highsmith (Browns)
- Brad Holmes (Rams)
- Champ Kelly (Bears)
- Martin Mayhew (49ers, ex-Lions GM)
- Will McClay (Cowboys)
- Jimmy Raye III (Lions)
- Jerry Reese (ex-Giants GM)
- Doug Whaley (ex-Bills GM)
- Doug Williams (Redskins)
Clinkscales, Highsmith, McClay, and Williams were all featured on last year’s list, but none of those executives landed GM jobs. The only executive from the last round of recommendations who did not carry over to this year was Ray Farmer, the former Browns GM who is currently serving as a senior consultant with the Rams.
Of the dozen suggested executives on this list, only three sat for GM interviews in the last cycle: Mayhew (Panthers), Raye (Texans), and Whaley (Packers). McClay was asked to interview for the Texans opening, but declined the opportunity and instead signed a two-year extension to stay with the Cowboys. McClay may garner consideration again this time around, but he might not be interested in leaving Dallas.