Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Today’s practice squad moves:
Atlanta Falcons
Chicago Bears
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Las Vegas Raiders
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
Seattle Seahawks
The Colts are down another receiver. Indianapolis rookie Michael Pittman Jr. developed compartment leg syndrome in his calf after their game Sunday and had surgery last night, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets.
Luckily it looks like it was caught early, as this can be quite serious. As former NFL team doctor David Chao described in a tweet, it’s a “medical emergency” that causes compression of the nerves due to blood swelling that needs to be relieved quickly by surgery. The injury happened during their Week 3 game, but symptoms didn’t pop up until later.
Speaking at a press conference Monday, Colts head coach Frank Reich declined to put a timetable on Pittman’s return. Rapoport however had more details, writing that Pittman is expected to return the game after the Colts’ bye week, which would have him on track for a Week 8 return. The 34th overall pick of this past April’s draft, Pittman was thrust into a sizable role right away.
With Parris Campbell on the shelf with a knee issue, Pittman was going to be counted on even more. He had six targets after Campbell went down against Minnesota, and started Indy’s Week 3 game against the Jets. The Colts will now rely even more on Zach Pascal behind T.Y. Hilton moving forward.m
The Jaguars are staying busy Monday. Shortly after we heard they’d be signing kicker Stephen Hauschka the team announced a small flurry of roster moves, including the release of veteran defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan.
They also waived/injured kicker Brandon Wright, promoted defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale from the practice squad, and placed linebacker Leon Jacobs on injured reserve. Jernigan signed with Jacksonville in August, and had played a rotational role along the defensive line through the first three games. The 48th overall pick of the 2014 draft, Jernigan spent his first three years in Baltimore.
He was then traded to Philadelphia, and started 15 games for the Eagles team that won Super Bowl LII. He signed a four-year, $48MM extension midway through that year, but was limited to three games the following year following back surgery. He was cut after 2018, then re-signed with Philly on a cheaper one-year deal.
He appeared in ten games with nine starts for the Eagles last season. The Florida State product then inked a one-year, $3.75MM pact with Houston in April, but that deal was called off after a couple of months. He only turned 28 last week, and due to his past starting experience and production, should resurface soon with a team looking for run-stuffing help.
The Jaguars are clearly going all in on their youth movement on defense. Jacobs started seven games last year and two of the three this season, so that’s a significant loss even though he hadn’t been playing super heavy snaps. Ekuale is a 2018 UDFA from Washington State who appeared in seven games with the Browns last year.
The Falcons blew yet another large lead on Sunday to fall to 0-3, and they didn’t escape from their loss to the Bears unscathed. Kicker Younghoe Koo picked up a groin strain that will cause him to miss some time, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Pelissero adds that injured reserve is a possibility, which would keep him out at least three weeks. Koo has been a rare bright spot for Atlanta, as he’s been quite solid since becoming their kicker about halfway through last season.
He’s particularly adept at the lost art of onside kicking, and in a game last year against the Saints Koo incredibly had three onside kicks that were recovered by the Falcons. Atlanta doesn’t have a kicker on their practice squad, so they’ll need to bring in someone from outside the organization for the time being.
An UDFA out of Georgia Southern in 2017, Koo made the Chargers’ roster as a rookie but promptly missed a few crucial kicks and was let go after just four games. After a stint in the AAF and on the Patriots’ practice squad last year, he finally resurfaced and found a home with the Falcons.
Bad day for defensive tackles and their biceps. Just moments after it was reported that Washington’s Matt Ioannidis was done for the year, we’ve got word that Broncos defensive tackle Jurrell Casey also has a torn bicep and is likely out for the season as well, via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
The hits just keep on coming for Denver, who has been sending players to injured reserve on a seemingly daily basis. Von Miller, Drew Lock, Courtland Sutton, and A.J. Bouye are just a small sampling of the high profile guys to go down with serious injuries. The Broncos acquired Casey in a trade with the Titans back in March, giving up only a seventh-round pick due to the veteran’s healthy salary.
He’s still a very solid player, making the Pro Bowl in each of the last five seasons, and it’s yet another huge blow to the Broncos’ defense. The USC product has had at least five sacks from the interior in each of the last seven seasons.
Needless to say, the 0-3 Broncos will be quit shorthanded for their trip to take on the Jets on Thursday Night Football this week. With Dre’Mont Jones also on injured reserve, this Denver defensive line is being held together by a thread. Casey is signed through the 2022 season thanks to the four-year, $60.4MM extension he signed in July of 2017.
Washington has been dealt a tough blow. Defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis has a torn bicep and is done for the year, a source told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link).
The defensive line is the clear strength of this team, and now it’s taking a bit of a hit. If defensive end Chase Young‘s groin injury proves to be serious, the unit which had been a bright spot could take a big step back. Ioannidis is a very productive interior pass-rusher, as he made 15 starts and had 8.5 sacks coming up the middle last year.
He had 7.5 sacks in 14 games in 2018. The 2016 fifth-round pick from Temple signed a three-year, $21.75MM extension in April of last year. Ioannidis had 1.5 sacks of Carson Wentz in Washington’s surprise Week 1 victory over the Eagles, and he went down early in their Week 3 loss to the Browns. This certainly won’t help 1-2 Washington as they look to pull off a huge upset of the Ravens next week.
The Jaguars have found their replacement for Josh Lambo. Jacksonville is signing veteran kicker Stephen Hauschka, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Lambo was placed on injured reserve last week with a hip injury, and the team had rookie Brandon Wright fill in for him on Thursday Night Football. Wright didn’t attempt a field goal and missed one of his two extra points, and the Jags clearly weren’t satisfied. The team worked out Hauschka and former Giants kicker Aldrick Rosas a couple of days ago.
Hauschka was cut by the Bills in August after three years as Buffalo’s kicker. Before that he had spent the previous six seasons in Seattle, winning Super Bowl XLVIII with the team. He was 21-23 from within 50 yards last year, but made just one of his five kicks from beyond 50.
Lambo has been reliable with the Jags, so he’ll probably get his job back whenever he’s healthy enough. The 1-2 Jaguars take on the Bengals on Sunday.
Not that it’s too surprising, but now it’s official. Nick Foles will be the Bears’ starting quarterback for their Week 4 matchup with the Colts, head coach Matt Nagy announced Monday. Nagy went on to say this wasn’t just a temporary move, and that Foles would be the starter “moving forward.”
Foles came on in relief of Mitchell Trubisky Sunday, and led an improbable comeback over the Falcons to improve Chicago to 3-0. Foles was traded from Jacksonville this offseason, and lost the abridged training camp battle to Trubisky. Everyone figured Trubisky would be on a short leash, but after the Bears started 2-0 he had appeared to have bought himself some time.
Despite Trubisky’s heroics in a Week 1 comeback of his own, internally he clearly never had too much support. Buzz about a fourth-year leap was premature, and the UNC product will now hit the bench. In his first start with his new team Foles will be going up against Frank Reich, who helped guide him to a Super Bowl victory as his offensive coordinator with the Eagles.
Given that Foles has a somewhat lengthy injury history and is always capable of being ineffective himself, it’s quite possible we see Trubisky back under center before too long. It’s also quite possible that Trubisky, who had his fifth-year option declined back in May and will be a free agent at the end of the year, has thrown his last pass in a Bears uniform.
The Browns will be without their return man for the rest of the year. JoJo Natson will be placed on injured reserve after tearing his ACL, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Natson suffered the injury early in the Browns’ 34-20 win over the Washington Football Team on Sunday. In addition to serving as the Browns’ leading returner, Natson was the team’s No. 4 receiver, up until the injury. Without Natson, the Browns are left with Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, KhaDarel Hodge, and a glaring need for additional support at WR.
From here, the Browns are likely to give sixth-round rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones a chance to play this week against the Cowboys. But, given his inexperience, they may want to look at other kick returners who can also contribute on offense. They’ve also got a pair of receivers on the expanded practice squad in Ja’Marcus Bradley and former Titans third-round pick Taywan Taylor.