After his second missed start this season, Trevor Siemian is expected to return on Sunday for the Broncos-Titans game, a player source informs Mike Klis of 9News. The first-year starter has missed 2 1/2 games now, with the two Paxton Lynch starts showing perhaps the rookie is not ready for regular duty.
Klis points out the mid-foot sprain Denver’s starter suffered is usually an injury that shelves players for multiple games, using Ronnie Hillman‘s six missed contests during the 2014 season as an example. Lynch completed 12-of-24 passes for 104 yards against the Jaguars last week, picking up his first win as a starter but doing so in less-than-optimal fashion.
Siemian is coming off his best game as a pro — a 368-yard, three-touchdown effort in an overtime loss to the Chiefs — but now needs to distance himself from another setback to avoid an injury-prone label after already missing time with a shoulder malady. For the Broncos, they likely need the second-year success story to return to make a last-ditch run at the AFC West title or possibly just to make the playoffs. Siemian (15 touchdown passes, seven INTs, 2,396 air yards) continuing to play reasonably well would continue to muddy the waters for the franchise in the future, though, with the first-round investment in Lynch still putting him in line as the quarterback of the future.
Here’s more from the AFC, continuing with more out of the West.
- A substantial amount of money being tied to players on IR contributed to the Chargers‘ decisions about their replacements and extension decisions, Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. In losing players like Stevie Johnson, Keenan Allen, Jason Verrett and Danny Woodhead, the Bolts have a 17-man IR contingent and that represents $29.3MM of the team’s cap space. This helped influence what kind of experience the Chargers ($1.3MM in cap room) could target as replacements for these players since longer-tenured veterans naturally cost more. Additionally, this matter partially impacted extension talks for Melvin Ingram or Woodhead, Gehlken reports, adding the Joey Bosa cash-flow uncertainty affected these talks as well. Both are impending UFAs, with Ingram set to be an in-demand commodity if he reaches the market.
- Placed on IR recently, John Greco suspects he suffered the same mid-foot Lisfranc injury Joel Bitonio did, Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal reports. The Browns‘ starting right guard, Greco would likely undergo surgery just as Bitonio, Cleveland’s left guard starter, did in October. The 31-year-old Greco’s been a Browns starter since 2012 and is optimistic about a 2017 return, just like Bitonio. He will visit Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C., next week to determine the next course of action. Despite entering what would be his 10th NFL season, Greco is under contract for just $975K in 2017.
- Jamar Taylor and the Browns agreed to a three-year deal worth $15MM, and Joel Corry of CBSSports.com argues (on Twitter) this is a team-friendly pact despite the former Dolphins corner finishing the 2015 season as a healthy scratch for his former employer. This salary rests $2MM per year less than displaced starter Tramon Williams is making, leading Corry to believe Williams won’t be around next season (Twitter link) after Taylor supplanted him in the lineup. Williams will turn 34 in March and, as part of a three-year deal worth $21MM, would stand to make $7.5MM in 2017 — all but $500K of which is nonguaranteed, pointing to a cap-casualty future for the former Packers cog.
- Brian Cushing‘s been playing with multiple broken bones in his back in his eighth Texans season, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports. “There’s two fractures in my back, but those are things you have to push through,” Cushing said. “Obviously, it’s painful, and I’m not able to get as many reps as I want in practice right now, but I’ll be out there Sunday with my team. I’ve missed a number of games with season-ending injuries, and I don’t want to miss any more time, so as long as I can walk, I’ll be out there.” The 29-year-old Cushing played at least 14 games in 2014-15 but saw his ’12 and ’13 slates end early because of ailments.