HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/28/15

October 28th, 2015 at 3:29pm CST by Luke Adams

Here are Wednesday’s practice squad signings and cuts from around the NFL:

Baltimore Ravens

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Browns Notes: Manziel, C. Johnson, Arians

October 28th, 2015 at 2:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Even if they wanted to suspend Johnny Manziel for his involvement in a recent off-field incident, the Browns wouldn’t be able to do so, GM Ray Farmer told reporters, including ESPN.com’s Pat McManamon. The Browns’ only option, under the NFL’s rules, was to make Manziel inactive for this past Sunday’s game against the Rams, the GM said.

Only the NFL has the authority to discipline the quarterback, because potential personal conduct policy violations fall under the umbrella of the league, not the team — Manziel was involved in an argument with his girlfriend and there may have been fisticuffs between the two.

Here’s more on Manziel, along with some other Browns-related items:

  • The NFL hopes to have its Manziel investigation wrapped up by the end of the week, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Presumably, a decision on whether or not the signal-caller will be disciplined will be announced shortly after the investigation concludes.
  • Manziel’s meeting with the league is imminent and “there’s a sense of urgency to it,” per head coach Mike Pettine (link via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com). It makes sense that Pettine would want things wrapped up as soon as possible, since the team needs some clarity on its quarterback situation for Week 8 — Josh McCown is banged up, and while he may be able to play, the team would need to add an insurance quarterback if Manziel receives a suspension from the NFL.
  • With a game against the Cardinals on tap this weekend for the Browns, Cabot notes (via Twitter) that the Browns could have signed running back Chris Johnson when Duke Johnson was injured in camp. However, the Browns instead discussed signing Ray Rice at the time, and ended up passing on both Rice and Chris Johnson, who is now second in the league in rushing yards.
  • The upcoming game against Arizona also resulted in Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians speaking to Browns reporters today, including Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan. The former Cleveland offensive coordinator admitted he thought he might get a chance to return to the Browns as their head coach in 2009, but the club quickly hired Eric Mangini instead. “I always thought if you could build a winner in Cleveland how special that would be,” Arians said of the missed opportunity.

Giants Re-Sign Jason Pierre-Paul

October 28th, 2015 at 1:54pm CST by Zachary Links

WEDNESDAY, 1:54pm: According to Rapoport (via Twitter), Pierre-Paul can earn up to about $8.7MM on his one-year contract, which is the prorated portion of his franchise tag. However, the guarantee is lower than that, and the deal includes plenty of incentives.

TUESDAY, 6:46pm: The Giants officially announced the signing of JPP.

6:22pm: The Giants will ask for a two-week roster exemption for Pierre-Paul, who” could be on the field in some form or fashion tomorrow,” Rapoport tweets.

6:10pm: The Giants will sign Jason Pierre-Paul tonight, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). JPP is officially back with big blue, though it remains to be seen when he’ll make his debut. It’ll be a one-year deal (link) and the two parties are working on finalizing the language. Jason Pierre-Paul

There are currently conflicting reports on when JPP will make his return to the field. The most recent word came from Ralph Vacchiano of the Daily News who heard from a source that Week 12 against Washington is the most likely possibility. There was some thought that JPP could be ready for the Patriots on November 15th, but that source says that a post-bye week return is more realistic.

The Giants waited a long time to get a look at JPP’s hand and when they finally got a chance to examine it early in the season, they were not comfortable with giving him the green light. The defensive end finally circled back to Big Blue in the last week, however, and they are ostensibly satisfied with what they saw. Pierre-Paul is not only down a digit, but he reportedly also suffered a broken middle finger and also lost a piece of his thumb.

Pierre-Paul had a strong 2014 campaign with 12.5 sacks and three forced fumbles and was the league’s seventh-best 4-3 defensive end according to Pro Football Focus’ grades (subscription required). At the end of the season, JPP found himself entangled in a contract dispute with the Giants. The Giants slapped the defensive end with a one-year, $14.813MM franchise tender to keep him, but Pierre-Paul was fighting for a lucrative long-term deal. Big Blue reportedly came to the table with a ~$60MM offer, but Pierre-Paul turned it down.

In July, of course, things took a bizarre and unfortunate turn when JPP injured his hand in a fireworks accident. For a while there, Pierre-Paul was rather distant from the organization and even from his teammates. Despite the frosty summer between the two parties, the Giants are undoubtedly ecstatic to have their star defensive lineman back in the fold. Outside of JPP, the Giants don’t have any players who have recorded more than 7.0 sacks in a season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NFC Notes: Ratliff, V-Jax, Boldin, Lions

October 28th, 2015 at 11:36am CST by Luke Adams

When the Bears released veteran defensive lineman Jeremiah Ratliff last week, details began to trickle out about an eruption from Ratliff that led to the move — and led to the Bears temporarily increasing the security at their team facility. Although that incident led to Ratliff’s release, it wasn’t his first such outburst, as Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report details.

According to Freeman, in the last week of the 2014 season, Ratliff showed up at a Bears practice and behaved “belligerently” toward players and coaches, leading to him being asked to leave practice multiple times. The incident sounds awfully similar to what happened at Halas Hall last week, but in 2014, head coach Marc Trestman not only didn’t discipline Ratliff — he named the defensive lineman a team captain for the coming week.

Per Freeman, the decision to reward Ratliff for the outburst may have cost Trestman the locker room, and it wasn’t long until the head coach was replaced. Under new coach John Fox, the Bears didn’t tolerate a similar display from Ratliff this season.

Let’s round up a few more odds and ends from across the NFC….

  • Encouraging Ratliff’s so-called “passion” last year didn’t work out well for Trestman — will taking a similar approach to Greg Hardy play out any better for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones? David Fleming of ESPN is skeptical, calling Jones’ support of Hardy the latest sign of dysfunction in Dallas.
  • Vincent Jackson‘s knee injury is expected to sideline him for multiple weeks, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). However, Rapoport adds that the injury won’t be a season-ender for the Buccaneers receiver.
  • With the 49ers rapidly falling out of contention, and next Tuesday’s trade deadline looming, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wonders if San Francisco would consider trading Anquan Boldin, and whether or not Boldin would welcome a trade to a contender. I wouldn’t expect the Niners to make a move involving the veteran wideout, but if they do, the Panthers would be one destination that makes some sense, as Florio observes.
  • While general manager Martin Mayhew has been aggressive in the past, Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com (video link) doesn’t expect the Lions to acquire any veterans before this year’s trade deadline. If Mayhew and the Lions make any deals, they’ll probably be for draft picks, says Rothstein.

Facebook/Twitter/RSS Feeds By Team

October 28th, 2015 at 10:55am CST by Luke Adams

We’ve detailed how you can follow Pro Football Rumors on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or using an RSS reader to ensure that you receive all of our updates, 365 days a year. If you prefer to only receive news about your favorite NFL team, PFR has you covered. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 32 teams.

AFC East

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

NFC West

Transactions only: Twitter / RSS

West Notes: Raiders, Cardinals, Broncos

October 28th, 2015 at 9:23am CST by Luke Adams

After enduring three years of losing, Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie is finally starting to see his rebuilding plan pay off a little, writes Josh Dubow of The Associated Press. With young players like Derek Carr, Amari Cooper, and Khalil Mack contributing significantly to an improved Raiders team, McKenzie suggests that he and the club has to “take the punches” for a few years.

“The key was really looking at the big picture, not get so down on myself and the team at that point knowing what was ahead of me,” McKenzie said. “It wasn’t easy. I’m used to being in the playoffs. I haven’t been since I’ve been here. That’s the goal.”

Here’s more from out of the NFL’s West divisions:

  • Joel Corry of CBSSports.com takes a look at how the Raiders‘ roster and cap management got the team to this spot, and speculates on what the next move is for Oakland.
  • Cardinals GM Steve Keim told Arizona Sports 98.7 that he’s gearing up to speak to agents about contract extensions, as Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com writes. Keim didn’t specify which players he’ll be targeting, but one can speculate that veterans like Chris Johnson and Jermaine Gresham – both on one-year deals – are candidates. Defensive backs Justin Bethel, Rashad Johnson, and Jerraud Powers are also potentially heading toward the open market.
  • Asked in a mailbag about the possibility of the Broncos and Bears working out a trade, perhaps for a player like running back Matt Forte, Mike Klis of 9News says he can’t see John Fox and Adam Gase wanting to do a deal that would help the Broncos win a Super Bowl. Fox and Gase, of course, are in their first year with the Bears, having left Denver last offseason.
  • According to NFL executive Eric Grubman, the league as a whole is negotiating with the St. Louis task force about its stadium plan for the Rams, as Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch details. Grubman on the NFL’s response to the task force’s term sheet: “We have some questions about the term sheet which we hope to get answered over the course of the next couple of days or week, and I think probably next week and the weeks after, we’ll be in discussions with the task force.”

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Jets Release Steve Weatherford

October 28th, 2015 at 8:09am CST by Luke Adams

Less than a week after signing him, the Jets have released veteran punter Steve Weatherford, the team announced today (via Twitter). As a vested veteran, Weatherford will immediately become a free agent without having to pass through waivers.

Weatherford, 32, signed with the Jets on Saturday to replace injured punter Ryan Quigley, and had an up-and-down performance against the Patriots on Sunday, averaging 40.3 yards on four punts. It was a return to New York for Weatherford, who spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons as the Jets’ punter, before playing four seasons for the Giants.

While it’s possible that Weatherford was released due to his play on Sunday, the move is more likely an indication that Quigley will be ready to return to action in Week 8 for the Jets.

NFC South Notes: Panthers, S. Smith, Martin

October 27th, 2015 at 8:37pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s tonight’s look at the NFC South:

  • As much as Panthers fans would love to see it happen, there’s no way that Steve Smith is coming back to Carolina via trade, David Newton of ESPN.com writes. The Panthers opted to release Smith back in March of 2014 and Newton notes that nothing has really changes since then. GM Dave Gettleman was concerned that the aging wide receiver couldn’t maintain his productivity over the course of the season and last year he was proven right as Smith slowed down towards the end. Smith was also cut because he was sometimes a disruptive and divisive force in the locker room. Not only do the Panthers clearly have some issues with Smith, but they’re also sitting at 6-0 even without a true No. 1 wide receiver.
  • Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap looked at some of the top unrestricted free agents this season at the running back position, including Buccaneers back Doug Martin. Martin has surprised many with his play thus far in 2015, averaging 90+ yards per game and putting himself on pace to crack 1,400 yards on the year. Martin will have to convince teams that his resurgence is not the byproduct of playing in a contract year and while that could be tough, Fitzgerald could see him entering free agency with stronger credentials than C.J. Spiller and Mark Ingram, tailbacks who signed for ~$4MM/year. All in all, Fitzgerald projects that Martin coudl sign for $20-22MM over a four year period.
  • The Bucs may be promoting wide receiver Adam Humphries to the active roster to replace the injured Louis Murphy, according to Roy Cummings of The Tampa Tribune (on Twitter).

    • NFC North Notes: Lions, Schwartz, White

    October 27th, 2015 at 7:19pm CST by Zachary Links

    A look at the NFC North:

    • Former Lions head coach Jim Schwartz is using his year-long break from football to prepare for his NFL return, Don Banks of SI writes. Schwartz just moved his family back to Nashville and he has history with the Titans, so that seems like a logical landing spot for him. Schwartz was with Tennessee from 1999-2008, mostly as Jeff Fisher‘s defensive coordinator. Other than that, there could be openings with the Colts, Saints, Jaguars, Bucs, 49ers, and maybe the Giants if Tom Coughlin decides to retire or resign.
    • Bears rookie wide receiver Kevin White won’t rule out returning to the Bears before the year is through, as John Mullin of CSNChicago.com writes. “If I can get on the field this year and we can make a run for it, I would like to help my teammates and this organization out, as planned,” White said. “If not this year, then try my best and do what I can for next year. “But [I am] not closing any doors, not saying that I’m not coming back or anything this year. There’s a chance, so do my best to try to make a comeback.” Unfortunately, however, the No. 7 pick in the 2015 draft isn’t doing much beyond jogging and he admits that he has “a ways to go.” The Bears have several weeks to activate White from the PUP list and until the end of Week 11 to decide on whether to activate him as part of the 53-man roster or shut him down for 2015.
    • Joe Lombardi, who was fired as the Lions‘ offensive coordinator, will be paid the balance of his three-year deal, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (on Twitter). That includes Lombardi’s fat $1.3MM salary for the 2016 season.

    AFC East Notes: Mallett, Pats, Jets, Demps

    October 27th, 2015 at 7:08pm CST by Zachary Links

    Here’s a quick look at the AFC East:

    • Mike Florio of PFT wonders if the Patriots should bring back Ryan Mallett. Mallett, who was cut by the Texans after missing a team flight, was a third-round pick of the Pats in 2011. Florio argues that Mallett didn’t have tardiness issues in New England because he knew his place and knew that he could not possibly be named as the starter. Regardless of where he signs, Mallett will get to keep the balance of his $2.5MM salary from Houston as termination pay.
    • The Jets worked out former Buccaneers running back and former Olympian Jeff Demps, as Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. The Jets tried to ink Demps way back in August 2012 under their old regime but they couldn’t sign him. Former Giants safety Cooper Taylor also got a look from the Jets, as Paul Schwartz of the New York Post tweets.
    • Linebacker Quinton Coples thought this was going to be his breakout year for the Jets, but so far that hasn’t happened for the 2012 first-round pick, as Kimberley A. Martin of Newsday writes. The Jets picked up Coples’ option for 2016, but because it’s guaranteed only for injury, so the Jets can cut him without financial penalty in March.
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