Here are Friday’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
Chicago Bears
Indianapolis Colts
Las Vegas Raiders
New York Jets
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Eagles may be back up to four starting offensive linemen available in Week 11. They activated guard Isaac Seumalo off IR Friday.
Seumalo will play against the Browns, per the team, after practicing without limitations Friday. The fifth-year guard has been out since Week 2 due to a knee injury.
A regular starter since October 2018, Seumalo is in his first year of the contract extension he agreed to in 2019. The Eagles have four of their five starters on long-term contracts but have seen injuries sideline most of them this season. At one point, Jason Kelce resided as the only healthy Eagles O-line starter. But with Seumalo back and Lane Johnson getting in a limited practice this week, the Eagles should have four of their first-stringers blocking for Carson Wentz and Co.
While Philadelphia has struggled nearly as much as the other three NFC East teams — who each have seven losses — the team remains in first place at 3-5-1. The Eagles are healthier going into Week 11 than they have been all season. Zach Ertz, however, is unlikely to make his return this week, according to Doug Pederson.
The 49ers have now placed seven players on their reserve/COVID-19 list this week. Two of those — Trent Williams and Brandon Aiyuk — are on the list for a second time.
Williams, Aiyuk and tight end Daniel Helm landed on San Francisco’s coronavirus list Friday. They join Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, center Hroniss Grasu and linebacker Joe Walker.
Aiyuk and Williams each missed San Francisco’s Week 9 game against Green Bay but returned for the team’s trip to New Orleans last week. The 49ers are on a bye this week, but their COVID situation certainly warrants monitoring.
Players who come in contact with a person who has tested positive for the virus land on reserve/COVID-19 lists. They must isolate for five days. Friday’s news does not mandate Aiyuk or Williams miss the 49ers’ Week 12 contest, against the Rams, but they would be in line to miss that game if they tested positive. It is not yet known if that is the case. But with seven players on the COVID list, the 49ers do have a bit of an issue during their week off.
Takkarist McKinley has not lacked for suitors since the Falcons waived him, but the former first-round pick has run into medical trouble since leaving Atlanta.
Days after McKinley did not pass a Bengals physical, the 49ers also failed him on their medical exam, The Athletic’s Matt Barrows reports (on Twitter). The 49ers waived him Friday. The 49ers have not given up on McKinley, but because of the waiver system, they risk losing him. McKinley is battling a groin injury.
Interestingly, the Browns and Raiders joined the 49ers in submitting two waiver claims for McKinley. The AFC teams tried to claim the fourth-year defensive end after the Falcons cut him, but the Bengals’ priority won out. They again put in claims after the Bengals waived him, but the 49ers won out, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. It will be interesting to see if the six-win AFCers try again.
The Falcons shopped McKinley before the trade deadline but did not end up dealing him. The 2017 first-rounder appears to have a market, but he will need to return to full health to benefit from it. He will be a first-time free agent if no team claims him this time around.
Drew Brees is now guaranteed to miss at least three games. The Saints placed the future Hall of Fame quarterback on IR on Friday, shelving him until Week 14.
Sean Payton declined to confirm reports Taysom Hill will replace Brees in New Orleans’ starting lineup instead of Jameis Winston. But that appears to be the plan, with ESPN.com’s Dianna Russini indicating the team is not planning to use Winston in any packages Sunday (Twitter link).
This is quite the bold strategy for the Saints, considering Hill has thrown 18 career passes. Winston may well see time during Brees’ absence, as he did when Brees went down in Week 10, but the former Buccaneers QB is currently set to be Hill’s backup. This certainly represents a step back for the five-year Bucs starter, who stands to be a free agent again in 2021.
As for Brees, he has sought additional opinions regarding his punctured lung and cracked ribs this week. The 41-year-old passer is believed to have fractured at least five ribs and punctured a lung. He was already confirmed to miss at least two games; the IR distinction will provide the Saints a roster spot.
Given the steep dropoff between Brees and his backups, this certainly could reshape the NFC playoff picture. Only one team receives a bye this year, thanks to the new CBA’s expanded playoff bracket, and no team has made a Super Bowl appearance without a bye since 2012. The Saints did win five games with Teddy Bridgewater starting last year, however. Over the next three weeks, the Saints have two games against the Falcons — in Weeks 11 and 13 — and one against the Broncos.
With the NFL passing an in-case-of-emergency amended playoff bracket and having a tentative Week 18 in place in case games need to be rescheduled, the league is planning ahead. Its months-long anti-bubble stance remains, but the prospect of one taking place in the postseason has not been ruled out. The NFL will consider holding conference championship games at neutral-site bubbles, according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post. Like the 16-team bracket, this would be a contingency plan. Should the NFL proceed with bubbles for its penultimate postseason round, Maske notes warm-weather cities would be the likely sites.
Here is the latest on the NFL’s navigation of the coronavirus pandemic:
Domata Peko will be in line to play a 15th NFL season. The Cardinals hosted the defensive lineman on a visit this week and have come to terms on a deal, according to agent David Canter (on Twitter).
The longtime starter has begun going through COVID-19 protocols with the Cardinals and would be eligible to practice ahead of the team’s Week 12 game. Peko would represent a vital reinforcement for a Cardinals team that now has five defensive linemen on IR.
A starter for the Bengals and Broncos, Peko played eight games with the Ravens last season. The soon-to-be 36-year-old defender has made 189 NFL starts. Peko will reunite with Cardinals DC Vance Joseph, who was the Broncos’ head coach during each of the nose tackle’s two seasons in Denver. Joseph was also with the Bengals during part of Peko’s 11-year Cincinnati stay.
The Cards used Josh Mauro, UDFA Trevon Coley and Angelo Blackson as their starting defensive linemen against the Seahawks on Thursday. None of this trio worked as Week 1 starters for the team, which has Corey Peters, Jordan Phillips and Zach Allen on IR.
Although the Giants are not scheduled to play again until Week 12, they have run into a COVID-19 issue. Following Graham Gano‘s coronavirus contraction, three more Giants players have submitted positive tests.
Rookie tackle Matt Peart, tight end Kaden Smith and recently added wide receiver Dante Pettis tested positive for COVID, according to Ralph Vacchiano of SNY. They will join Gano, punter Riley Dixon and long snapper Casey Kreiter on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list.
While none of Friday’s cases have affected high-profile Giants players, four positive tests certainly is a concern for the team. The Giants said in a statement they learned of the tests Thursday night; contact tracing is underway. No Giants have been at the team’s facility this week. Gano’s positive test Monday nixed plans for any in-person meetings or light workouts, per Vacchiano.
Players who test positive must remain away from teams’ facilities for 10 days, so Friday’s news will shelve the three latest positive testers for the Giants’ Nov. 29 game against the Bengals. The Giants played without guard starter Will Hernandez in two games earlier this month because of his positive test.
A third-round pick viewed as a developmental tackle, Peart has mixed in on offense since his Week 6 start. The UConn product has played 64 offensive snaps over the past four games, rotating in with starting right tackle Cameron Fleming. Used as a blocking tight end alongside Evan Engram, Smith has started nine games this season and played 48% of Big Blue’s offensive snaps. Pettis, claimed off waivers earlier this month, has yet to make his Giants debut.
With Drew Brees sidelined, it looked as though the stage was set for Jameis Winston to reassert himself as an NFL starter. Instead, the Saints go with Taysom Hill on Sunday, leaving Winston to hold the clipboard against the Falcons (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). 
While Winston set career-highs in passing yards (5,109) and touchdowns (33) in 2019, he also set a career-high (and led the NFL) with 30 interceptions. He later agreed to a one-year, $1.1MM deal with the Saints, giving him an opportunity to learn from Brees and, perhaps, take over for him if given the opportunity.
Winston got the call when Brees’ rib injury forced him out against the Niners, and he went on to complete six of ten passes for 63 yards. Apparently, that didn’t guarantee Winston’s status as the fill-in starter ahead of Hill. Regardless of who takes the first snap, the Saints could use Winston and Hill interchangeably.
After notching their sixth-straight win, the Saints are 7-2 and marching their way towards another playoff run. Meanwhile, both of their backup QBs will be making their case to take over for Brees in 2021, if the future Hall of Famer calls it a career.
Seahawks tight end Greg Olsen has been diagnoses with a a plantar fascia injury, according to head coach Pete Carroll. The injury could spell the end of Olsen’s season and, in turn, his career. For his part, Olsen is hoping to recover in time for the playoffs, though the Seahawks would probably have to make a deep run to make that happen (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 
Olsen suffered the non-contact injury in the fourth quarter of last night’s game and had to be helped to the sidelines. Even before he was carted into the locker room, team doctors knew that Olsen’s injury was fairly serious.
The 35-year-old joined the Seahawks on a one-year, $7MM deal this offseason, though he also has a placeholder deal with FOX Sports to start his broadcasting career once he’s done playing. Olsen also experienced foot trouble late in his Panthers tenure. He missed 16 games between the 2017-18 campaigns because of multiple foot issues. After lots of rehab, he managed to play in 14 games last year.
In nine Panthers seasons, Olsen cemented himself as one the best players in franchise history. He eclipsed 1,000 yards en route to three Pro Bowls from 2014-16 and helped the Panthers to a 15-1 season that produced an NFC championship. From 2007 through 2019, Olsen registered 8,444 receiving yards — third-most in the NFL among tight ends in that span. With the Seahawks, he’s caught 23 passes for 224 yards and one touchdown through ten games.