HEADLINES

Month: December 2024

Lions RB Ameer Abdullah On Track To Return?

November 25th, 2016 at 11:29am CST by Zachary Links

Lions running back Ameer Abdullah met with foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson this week and he received some good news. Anderson found the foot structurally sound with no reason to believe aggravation of the injury might occur, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (video link). Abdullah’s foot has come along better than expected and that could allow him to take the field again this season. There is a realistic chance that he could be activated in three weeks. Ameer Abdullah (vertical)

[RELATED: Lions’ Pettigrew May Return From PUP]

At this stage, the only concern from doctors is that Abdullah could injure another body part while trying to protect his foot. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Abdullah’s status could be largely up to the player. If he is mostly pain-free and confident in his condition, he could be playing again before long. In the meantime, Abdullah will ramp up his rehab to test the injury.

Late last week, it was reported that the Lions are still wrestling between Abdullah and linebacker Jon Bostic as the one player to designate for return. Bostic, who underwent foot surgery earlier this season, has been eligible to come off IR as soon as Week 8. He’s been running on the practice field lately, but the team has likely been stalling to leave open the possibility of an Abdullah comeback. Detroit could use the help at linebacker, but running back is arguably a greater need and Abdullah has the potential to make a larger impact. The team has turned to Theo Riddick, Dwayne Washington, Zach Zenner, and Justin Forsett at different points this season but they have been unable to find consistent results from any of them.

Raiders’ Shilique Calhoun To Miss Time?

November 25th, 2016 at 10:48am CST by Zachary Links

The Raiders could be without outside linebacker Shilique Calhoun for a little while. The rookie had a procedure on his injured knee this week, the team announced. He’s been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Panthers and it’s not clear exactly when he’ll return. However, he is not expected to be out for the remainder of the season, Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com writes. Shilique Calhoun (vertical)

[RELATED: Mario Edwards Without Return Date]

The Raiders have been using Calhoun as the primary backup for Bruce Irvin and Khalil Mack. Without Calhoun, the Raiders don’t have another dedicated edge rusher to add to the rotation. Bair suggests that sixth-round pick Cory James, an inside linebacker, could take on that role since he did some work on the outside at Colorado State.

Using James to spell Irvin and Mack may not be ideal, but Calhoun wasn’t making a big impact in that role either. Through ten games, Calhoun recorded just nine tackles and a half sack. Alternatively, Oakland could promote James Cowser from the practice squad.

Trade Rumors App For iOS/Android

November 25th, 2016 at 10:20am CST by Zachary Links

If you enjoy PFR on your smartphone or tablet then you’ve got to download the free Trade Rumors app!

Trade Rumors, available for iOS and Android, is the best way to consume our content on a mobile device. Here’s what it delivers, all for free:

  • All the articles from Pro Football Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, and Hoops Rumors in an easy-to-navigate, eye-catching format. Swipe through stories to quickly consume all the news and rumors from our three sites. Not into all three sports? No problem – any sport can be easily removed.
  • Customize what you see. You can create feeds for any team or player across any of our sites.
  • Notifications! For any team or player, you can set up push notifications to ensure you always get breaking news instantly. Notifications can also be set up at the sport level.
  • Commenting! You can now read and contribute comments on the app.
  • Customer service! If you find a bug, we’ll fix it. If you have a feature request, we’ll consider it. The app is continually evolving and improving.
  • Did we mention Trade Rumors is a free app? What do you have to lose? Download now!

Extra Points: Packers, Bills, Van Noy, Lions

November 24th, 2016 at 9:03pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Unless Packers president Mark Murphy is willing to risk losing well-regarded director of player personnel Eliot Wolf, he’ll probably have to turn the football operations over to the 34-year-old in the offseason and relegate general manager Ted Thompson to an advisory role, writes Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Packers have been highly successful since hiring Thompson in 2005, having gone 112-73-1 with eight playoff appearances, but they’re currently 4-6 and Silverstein argues that Thompson’s free agency-avoiding approach has grown stale. Thompson, who has two years left on his contract, is also three decades older than the up-and-coming Wolf. Thus, if the Packers are sold on Wolf, promoting him soon would make sense.

More from around the NFL, which is capping off a quality slate of Thanksgiving games:

  • Bills No. 1 receiver Sammy Watkins hasn’t seen the field since Week 2 on account of a foot injury, but it appears he’ll return Sunday against Jacksonville. “As long as there’s not another setback or anything like that, I feel pretty good about him playing,” head coach Rex Ryan said Thursday (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com). Watkins, whom the Bills designated to return from injured reserve Wednesday, will only be available on a limited basis if he does play Sunday. Nevertheless, his presence will be a welcome one for a wideout-needy Buffalo team that likely won’t have Robert Woods in its lineup because of a knee ailment.
  • On the heels of a 25-sack college career at BYU, the Lions selected linebacker Kyle Van Noy in the second round of the 2014 draft. Van Noy amassed just one sack in 30 games with the Lions, though, and they traded him to the Patriots last month for a late-round pick. In his Pats debut last week, Van Noy picked up 29 snaps and a sack in a win over the 49ers, and he admitted Thursday that his Detroit tenure was frustrating because the club seldom used him as a pass rusher. “Oh yeah, who wouldn’t be when you did that your whole college career and then all of a sudden you’re not allowed to, or they don’t want you to,” he told Ryan Hannable of WEEI.
  • There were conflicting reports on Thursday afternoon regarding the Redskins’ willingness to place the franchise tag on quarterback Kirk Cousins again in the offseason. That was before Cousins completed 41 of 53 passes for 453 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-26 loss to Dallas. Cousins is amid a late-season tear for the second straight year.
  • Speaking of the Cowboys, who are an NFL-best 10-1, second-round linebacker Jaylon Smith won’t make his debut this season.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/24/16

November 24th, 2016 at 8:08pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Thursday’s minor moves…

  • The Chiefs have promoted cornerback Terrance Mitchell from their practice squad, according to Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link). Mitchell joined the Chiefs organization shortly after the Texans cut him in September. He has totaled one appearance this year, giving him nine since Dallas took him in the seventh round of the 2014 draft.

Suspension Looming For Seantrel Henderson?

November 24th, 2016 at 5:32pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Bills right tackle Seantrel Henderson served a four-game suspension to begin the season because of a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Now, a month and a half after the Bills activated Henderson, another ban is imminent for the third-year man, reports Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News.

Seantrel Henderson

Henderson’s previous suspension resulted from medicinal marijuana use, and that’s likely to be the case again this time. The 24-year-old has been using it to treat Crohn’s disease, which he was diagnosed with last year, but the league hasn’t been sympathetic.

“I’ve got doctors telling me this is the No. 1 medicine that would help your disease,” Henderson said last month, according to Skurski. “You try to tell that to the league and it seems like they didn’t care too much.”

While Henderson’s marijuana use dates back to his time at the University of Miami (one reason he fell to the seventh round of the 2014 draft), he insists he now utilizes it only to treat his disease.

“I hadn’t even been thinking about marijuana until it was brought up to me by a doctor,” he said. “Since I’ve been in the league, I’ve been in the program. I got drug tested three times a week. There’s no recreational use. There’s none of that.”

Unfortunately for Henderson, even though the majority of states – including New York – allow some sort of medical marijuana use, it doesn’t appear the league is willing to soften its stance. However, various executives around the sport are pushing for less draconian measures.

Henderson has played in only one game this year after starting in all 26 appearances during his first two seasons – including 16 as a rookie. Thanks in part to his health issues, Henderson lost the Bills’ No. 1 right tackle job to Jordan Mills.

Albert Breer On Johnson, Cousins, Draft

November 24th, 2016 at 1:44pm CST by Zachary Links

We have conflicting reports on the Redskins and their plans for pending free agent Kirk Cousins. Earlier today, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reported that the Redskins are willing to use the franchise tag on Cousins for the second consecutive year, if necessary. However, Albert Breer of The MMQB is hearing the opposite.

The Redskins still want to lock Cousins up, but Breer’s understanding is that they will only go so far to keep him. He also cautions that the team’s stance could change in the coming months.

Unless Cousins falls apart in the second half of the season, I would expect the Redskins to do whatever it takes to keep him under contract. Since being handed the job in 2015, Cousins has a 68.7% completion percentage, 7,257 yards, and 46 touchdowns against 18 interceptions. The Redskins might not want to pay him nearly $25MM/year on a new deal, but they also know that they won’t be able to replicate that production any other way.

Here’s more from Breer:

  • Eagles lineman Lane Johnson is fighting his 10-game suspension and Breer has the specifics on his argument. For starters, the performance-enhancing substance policy calls for a panel of 3-5 arbitrators, and Johnson’s reps note that there were only two assigned to his case. One of those arbitrators, James Carter, handled the Ray Rice investigation for the NFL and his cozy relationship with the league could be a conflict of interest, one that was not disclosed to Johnson. Johnson is also going after the NFLPA, in part because he says their Aegis Shield app for checking supplements did not flag what he was taking.
  • Executives around the NFL are high on Ohio State’s Marshon Lattimore. The cornerback appears to have better grades than former Buckeye Eli Apple did last season and that should put him in the first round. “He’s smooth—a good athlete with good ball skills,” said one AFC executive. “There’s not a lot bad to him. He’s a first-rounder.” Still, Lattimore will have to silence some concerns about his speed. “He’s big, strong, athletic, good ball skills,” one scout assigned to the Buckeyes said. “But you still feel like you need to see more, because he only has 11 career starts and they rotate three guys. You want to see his speed. I don’t know if he’ll run 4.4, and he hasn’t been tested like he will this weekend.”
  • Meanwhile, North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky could be in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick. The redshirt junior could choose to stay in school, but it would be hard for him to turn down such a golden opportunity. Two NFC execs pegged Trubisky as a Top 10 pick, praising his accuracy, vision, and overall arm talent. The Tar Heel’s biggest liability could be his perceived leadership ability. While there are no character concerns, Trubisky is not as outspoken and outgoing as some evaluators would like. The Browns are reportedly focusing on Trubisky.

Cowboys LB Jaylon Smith Won’t Play This Year

November 24th, 2016 at 12:28pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cowboys raised some eyebrows this week when they activated linebacker Jaylon Smith from the non-football injury list. However, he won’t be playing this season, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. In fact, the rookie won’t even be practicing this season. Jaylon Smith (vertical)

By activating Smith off the NFI list this week, the Cowboys were merely keeping their options open. The timetable for making his NFL debut is still unclear because of the nature of his injury. Nerve damage is always tough to figure out and the source tells Rapoport that it’s not clear when or if it will “fire” again.

Smith has now been rehabbing his injury for eleven months and he has been earning his full salary while on NFI, even though the Cowboys do not have to do that under league rules. So, the decision to keep Smith off the field will not affect his bank account.

The Cowboys would have liked to add the Notre Dame product to their front seven this year, but they also knew that this could be a lost season for him. Once regarded as a top 10 pick, most teams ruled Smith out in the early rounds. The Patriots, Rapoport says, were the only other team that would have considered Smith in the second round. In time, the Cowboys’ gamble could pay off, but we won’t have a read on that until next year.

Adrian Peterson On Track For Dec. Return

November 24th, 2016 at 10:20am CST by Zachary Links

For most players, a significant tear to the meniscus is a season-ender. But, as we all know, Adrian Peterson isn’t like most players. The Vikings believe that the running back can return to action next month, people with knowledge of the situation tell Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports. NFL: Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams

Over the next week or two, Peterson will ramp up his workload and that will give the Vikings a better handle on his timetable for return. If all goes well, we could see the veteran make a surprisingly quick comeback after suffering a “bucket handle tear” of the meniscus in September.

Peterson’s attempted return from surgery is admirable, but one has to wonder what Peterson can bring to the table this year. Before the injury, Peterson was uncharacteristically unproductive, totaling just 50 yards off of 31 carries. Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata have done better than that, of course, but they’re also not setting the world on fire. The Vikings added Ronnie Hillman after AD went to IR, but he didn’t do much in limited action and was sent packing earlier this week.

Of course, if Peterson can run like he did at the close of the 2015 season, he’ll provide a huge boost for the 6-4 Vikings. The Vikings face the Lions this afternoon and the winner will be in the driver’s seat of the NFC North.

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