It’s been long expected that star Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen was going to enter the 2018 NFL Draft. Following the team’s game on Nov. 18, head coach Craig Bohl all but confirmed the speculation. 
While meeting with reporters following the 13-7 loss to Fresno State, Bohl was asked if Allen would return to the team in 2018. “I would say no,” Bohl told reporters, including the Casper Star-Tribune’s Brandon Foster. “He and I have had some talks, and I think he’s going to plan on moving forward (to the NFL).”
The coach’s comments weren’t the only indicator about Allen’s future. The junior quarterback was also the first player honored during the team’s senior-day ceremonies. Bohl played that off by saying, “Well, Josh is set to graduate and (is) a senior,” alluding to the fact Allen is an academic senior.
So far in his junior campaign, Allen hasn’t put up the eye-popping stats many expect from a first-round quarterbacks, amassing 1,658 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing just 56.2 percent of his passes. Scouts, however, rave about the signal-caller’s tools. At 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds with a cannon for an arm, Allen is seen by many as the most physically talented passer in an impressive class of quarterbacks that includes USC’s Sam Darnold, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and UCLA’s Josh Rosen.
Teams who could be a possible destination for the Wyoming product include the Giants, Browns and Jets.
Though Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has relented on his threat to sue the NFL, the Cowboys owner is not giving up his battle against commissioner Roger Goodell just yet, Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams writes. 
Though the six-member Compensation Committee voted unanimously to extend Goodell, Jones expects all owners to have input on the decision when they convene at an owners-only meeting in Irving, Texas on Dec. 13. “I just want to say that we really have had, are having a lot of owner participation. So that’s a part of it,” Jones said. “It doesn’t mean at all that we’re not really pursing what we want to get done, and that is have the owners in a very positive way give input and make everyone, including ourselves, accountable.”
Pro Football Talk also reported earlier in the week that Jones will seek a secret ballot in regards to Goodell’s contract. Even if Jones receives the secret ballot, which requires a majority of 17 owners to trigger, he is facing an uphill battle. After the ballot is triggered, 75 percent of the 32 votes are needed to rescind the decision.
Regardless the outcome, Jones doesn’t seem likely to give up the fight anytime soon.
Vikings quarterback Case Keenum is due for a substantial raise in the 2018 offseason that could earn him in the neighborhood of $15 MM per year, writes Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. 
The figure comes from salary cap analyst Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com and is based on the contract Mike Glennon signed in the 2017 offseason with the Bears. Should Keenum command the Vikings on a deep playoff run, Fitzgerald says that figure could rise to as much as $18 MM.
“If you have an arm and can throw a little bit, there’s such a scarcity of talent at the position and I think there’s a lot of worries about guys coming in from college unless you’re looked at as a super prospect and are going to be picked in the top five of the draft,’’ Fitzgerald told Tomasson.
The first name on our list of the 10 best one-year deals of 2017 from earlier this month, Keenum has significantly outperformed his $2 MM contract while commanding the Vikings to the top of the NFC North. Signed as an afterthought behind starter Sam Bradford and with the return of Teddy Bridgewater looming, the journeyman signal-caller has powered Minnesota to a 7-2 mark as the team’s starter and delivered another win in relief of Bradford in Week 5 vs. Chicago.
Fitzgerald notes that a lot will depend on the end of the season. With head coach Mike Zimmer unwilling to commit to Keenum the rest of the campaign, that figure could fall should the University of Houston product slip up down the stretch.
Residing atop the “In the Hunt” section of AFC playoff picture graphics, the Bills will have a tougher time rebounding from their rough road trip to Los Angeles. Kelvin Benjamin isn’t traveling to Kansas City with the team, per the Bills, due to a knee injury. This could be the start of a multi-game absence for the former Panthers wideout, who avoided an ACL tear but did not get off free of lingering knee pain when injured against the Chargers. Benjamin has only played in two of the four Buffalo games since the Bills acquired him at the trade deadline. He has four receptions for 62 yards as a Bill.
Here’s the latest on some wide receiver situations around the league.
- Speaking of playoff-contending teams, the Titans may be without Rishard Matthews because of a hamstring injury. Matthews did not practice on Friday. Categorizing Matthews as a game-time decision for Sunday’s Colts tilt, Mike Mularkey said the team’s top wide receiver was given a day off for rest. Players who miss Friday workouts generally do not play on Sundays. Tennessee’s leading receiver at 626 yards, Matthews has not missed a game since joining the Titans last year. The Titans activated Harry Douglas from their PUP list on Saturday, adding an additional veteran to the mix.
- Josh Gordon is at his playing weight of 225 and recently blazed to a 4.35-second 40-yard dash while training at N.U.M.A. Speed this offseason, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports. Given his condition and Hue Jackson‘s glowing praise, it should be assumed he’s going to play in the Browns‘ Week 13 game against the Chargers. The 26-year-old pass-catcher said learning Jackson’s offense last year helped considerably in this readjustment period. Gordon can still be drug-tested up to 10 times per month.
- Doug Pederson was quoted as saying the Eagles would love to retain Alshon Jeffery. But the second-year Philadelphia HC stopped short of saying Jeffery was certain to return. “Alshon’s a guy that you’d love to have continue to work with Carson (Wentz) and have around, and I think it’s a good dynamic to have, and have that stability,” Pederson said, via the Chicago Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley. “If things work out and we can retain him, it would be great for the chemistry of the offense, and, obviously, those two guys working together in the future.” As of now, Jeffery and Jarvis Landry look to be the top receivers on the 2018 market.
Here are today’s minor moves.
Denver Broncos
- Signed: NT Kyle Peko
Detroit Lions
- Waived: DE Jeremiah Valoaga
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: TE Jason Vander
- Waived: G Isaiah Williams
The 49ers have now used both of their IR-return slots this season. Both roster decisions involved defensive linemen.
San Francisco brought Tank Carradine off IR, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. He will take the place of the recently waived Ray-Ray Armstrong on the 49ers’ 53-man roster.
Ronald Blair already came off IR for the 49ers, and Carradine will now resume his work on the 1-9 team’s defensive front. A 2013 second-round pick, Carradine has a significant six-week stretch in front of him. The career backup is in a contract year and could be auditioning for another team at this juncture, considering new management is in place.
The Trent Baalke draft choice played in three 49ers games this season before going down with a high ankle sprain. This also ends Arik Armstead‘s season. Armstead broke his hand in October.
While Kyle Shanahan confirmed the team made the choice to prioritize a Carradine return due to Carradine going on IR before Armstead, and thus having more time to contribute upon returning, this ensures Armstead’s third season will include only six games. The former top-10 pick played in just eight last season. John Lynch offered praise for Armstead as a future piece recently. The 49ers have a fifth-year option decision on Armstead due in early May.
From a cornerback turbulence standpoint, the 2017 Giants are having one of the worst seasons in memory. Now, a third player appears to have been involved in an internal dust-up.
Following the one-game suspensions of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins earlier this season, Eli Apple was at odds with the Giants for a short period.
Apple, who has not been active for the past two Giants games, considered walking out of the team’s facility recently after pointed criticism came his way from coaches and teammates, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports.
A film session of Big Blue’s embarrassing loss in San Francisco led to harsh critiques coming Apple’s way, mostly regarding his effort level, per Schwartz. And the 2016 first-round pick “did not handle it well at all.” Schwartz reports Apple was so dismayed by this he twice said he was ready to walk out of the facility. A source informed Schwartz Apple endured harsher critiques than any other player in that meeting.
While a discussion with Ben McAdoo led to the second-year corner not creating a scene by leaving the building, Schwartz reports Apple’s recent actions played a part in the Giants deactivating him the past two weeks.
Apple did not report to the team facility for the next two days, but he was excused because his mother was undergoing brain surgery, Schwartz reports. McAdoo said the practice absences were the reason he wasn’t on the field against the Chiefs. The coach also said a lack of game-speed readiness, due to light practices on a short week, led to Apple being a healthy scratch against the Redskins.
Earlier this season, the Giants benched Apple for multiple series during a loss to the Chargers. After the game, the Ohio State product made comments about being the scapegoat for a Giants culture that needed repairing. Schwartz reports that comment did not register well with teammates or coaches.
Apple started 11 games for the Giants last season and seven in his second campaign.
The 49ers are continuing their patient approach to the handling of Jimmy Garoppolo, being set to keep him on the bench again this week. And the team’s wait-and-see strategy looks set to continue through next season.
During a radio interview, Kyle Shanahan said not only would be be fine if the team used its franchise tag on the quarterback. But the first-year HC essentially deemed that scenario more likely than the sides reaching a long-term extension before next season.
“I know you have to franchise a quarterback to keep him, but quarterbacks are expensive. And that is not that big of a deal to us,” Shanahan said in a KNBR segment (via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle).
“… It would be great if it could work out that way (a long-term contract), but that’s just not the situation any of us are in. So you want to play it out. That is the good thing about the franchise tag and that’s what, to me, made it an easier decision to trade for him at the time we did to where it’s – I don’t want to do anything very impulsive that could put our team at risk.”
A Garoppolo tag would cost the team more than $23MM next season. The current No. 2 Niners signal-caller is playing out the final season of his rookie deal at $821K. San Francisco can handle this substantial markup, though, in being projected to possess a league-most $60.6MM in 2018 cap space. Considering the team’s new decision-makers have discussed the acquisition of a potential franchise quarterback at just about every turn this offseason, putting a $23MM-plus salary on the 2018 books wouldn’t be too much of a setback to determine if Garoppolo is that player.
No current 49er is set to have even an eight-figure cap number next season. Pierre Garcon‘s $9.36MM tops the rebuilding team’s list. A Garoppolo tag would be the most money the 49ers have ever paid for a quarterback in one season.
Shanahan views the 49ers’ current situation — making a medium-scale bet on a possible high-ceiling passer, one that has yet to throw 100 NFL passes — as ideal for a tag.
“That’s what’s cool about having something like (the franchise tag): Hey, alright, I would love to have a guy like that, especially for only a second-round pick,” Shanahan said. “Definitely. Do we have to make a decision this fast for the future in terms of a long-term deal and everything? No, you don’t. If you do, and it works out, and you feel great about it, that’s awesome. But if not, that’s why the rules are the way they are.”
Regardless of Garoppolo’s 2017 performance, Shanahan said he won’t gauge it as much as he will 2018’s. The former second-round pick’s comfort within the confines of the 49ers’ offense will be higher by ’18, Shanahan said, helping to explain the organization’s patient stance presently.
“… It’s not something where you want to put all this pressure on him, on the organization, on the players around him where it’s like ‘Hey, we’re going to get this deal done, this long-term deal, you’ve got six games to prove it. You better go out there and do it or you won’t get what you think you’re worth,’” Shanahan said. “That’s not right to me for us. That’s not right for him.”
Harry Douglas is set to make his season debut this weekend. Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com reports that the Titans have activated the wideout from the injured reserve. To make room on the roster, the team has waived wide receive Darius Jennings.
After suffering a knee injury, the 33-year-old was placed on the injured reserve prior to the start of the season. The veteran should be a welcome addition to a Titans passing offense that has only hauled in nine touchdowns this season. In 25 games with Tennessee between 2015 and 2016, Douglas compiled 51 receptions for 621 yards and two touchdowns. His best season came in 2013 with the Falcons, when he caught 85 passes for 1,067 yards and two scores.
“He has done well, and obviously he has been in the book,” said coach Mike Mularkey. “He is a trusted vet, and knows how to do things the right way. He came out here and didn’t miss a beat. It doesn’t look like he’s been off for 11 weeks.”
Despite the Titans lack of production, it might be tough for Douglas to see a whole lot of playing time. Even with Jennings out of the picture, the team is still rostering Rishard Matthews, Corey Davis, Eric Decker, Taywan Taylor, and Eric Weems.
Jennings, a 2015 undrafted free agent out of Virginia, has also spent time with the Browns, Bears, and Jets. He didn’t see the field for the Titans this season, although he previously caught 14 passes with Cleveland in 2015.