HEADLINES

Year: 2024

Packers’ Aaron Jones To Miss Time

November 15th, 2021 at 11:18am CST by Zachary Links

The Packers got some relatively good news on Monday morning. Following an MRI, running back Aaron Jones has been diagnosed with a mild MCL sprain (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). Jones is expected to be out for just 1-2 weeks, so the Packers won’t be placing him on injured reserve at this time. 

Jones was forced out in the third quarter yesterday after a tackle from Seahawks defender Bobby Wagner. At first, Jones tried to limp off of the field, but he ultimately had to be helped off to the sideline. It was a scary scene, but it turns out that the injury is not nearly as bad as it looked.

Without Jones, the Packers turned to A.J. Dillon, who finished out with 21 carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Dillon will likely get the call again vs. the Vikings next week; he may also be the primary ball-carrier against the Rams in Week 12. Fortunately for the Packers, they have a Week 13 bye, giving Jones ample time to rest up for the final stretch.

Jones has been here before — MCL injuries also cost him time in 2017 and 2018. Since then, he’s turned in some of his best work. Between 2019 and 2020, Jones averaged over 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 15 TDs, positioning him as one of the best running backs in the NFL. After that, the Packers gladly re-upped him with a four-year, $48MM deal, tying him to the club through 2024.

Steelers Made Late Push For OBJ

November 15th, 2021 at 9:36am CST by Zachary Links

Odell Beckham Jr. is expected to debut for the Rams in a matter of hours. But, minutes before he signed with Los Angeles, the Steelers made a late entry into the OBJ sweepstakes, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. 

[RELATED: Rams Want To Extend OBJ]

However, by that point, the wide receiver had already narrowed down his list. The Chiefs, Packers, Patriots, Seahawks, and Saints were also in the mix, but the Beckham saw the Rams as the best fit.

“It just feels right about the [Rams] offense,” Beckham said. “I hope to find a groove and help this team find ways to win.”

Saints head coach Sean Payton personally tried to court the former LSU standout, but the Saints weren’t sure if he was serious about coming to New Orleans (Twitter link via Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune). Like most of the other teams involved, it’s believed that the Saints pitched him on a ~$1MM base salary for 2021, plus incentives. The Packers were something of an exception, according to RapSheet, offering only the veteran’s minimum.

With incentives, Beckham can make up to $3MM on his Rams deal this year. After that, he’ll be eligible for free agency, giving all of his previous suitors another chance to land him. Meanwhile, the Rams are already working to keep him from the open market.

Raiders Fear Torn ACL For Alec Ingold

November 14th, 2021 at 8:58pm CST by Zachary Links

The Raiders believe that fullback Alec Ingold has a torn ACL (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). They won’t know for sure until he gets scanned on Monday morning, but doctors rarely miss on this kind of diagnosis. 

Ingold had to be carted off to the locker room following the injury. And, in a sideline update, NBC’s Michele Tafoya said that he appeared to be crying after exiting the medical tent.

Ingold, a Wisconsin product, joined the Raiders as an undrafted free agent in 2019. After he defied the odds and made the team, he went on to start in all 32 of the Raiders’ regular season games between ’19 and ’20. Ingold was on the same course this year, playing a key role as a blocker and special teamer.

While he’s not targeted often, Ingold has made the most of his opportunities. Through eight games, Ingold has nine grabs for 80 yards and a touchdown — all off of just eleven targets.

As of this writing, the Raiders trail the Chiefs 17-7 at the half. Ingold, likely done for the year, will be out of contract in March.

This Date In Transactions History: Bears Place Kyle Long On IR

November 14th, 2021 at 8:45pm CST by Zachary Links

Five years ago today, the Bears lost star offensive lineman Kyle Long for the year with a severe right ankle injury. Unfortunately, his health troubles did not end with the 2016 season.

Kyle Long (Vertical)Long’s right ankle injury capped his season after just eight games. But, before that, he performed as one of the best offensive linemen in the game. Long made three straight Pro Bowls in his first three seasons, seeing time at both guard and tackle. And, in all three years, Pro Football Focus had him ranked top five at his position.

“It seems like we’ve got somebody freaking hurt every game,” left guard Josh Sitton said after the ’16 injury. “It sucks watching him down there on the ground. It’s tough to see one of your friends, one of your teammates and a helluva competitor, he was down there and he was in a lot of pain. It was tough to see.”

Long missed only one regular season game from 2013-2015. But, from 2016 through 2019, he made just 30 appearances out of a possible 64. It wasn’t just the ankle — there was a labrum tear in his left shoulder, triceps strains, painful hip injuries, and other maladies. After he was shut down in ’19, we didn’t hear much about Long in the early part of 2020. Then, there were summer rumblings of a return.

“Full transparency I miss football, but at what cost? [Still,] I’m most likely gonna be on golf courses instead of gridirons,” Long tweeted, before adding. “I didn’t retire, I got fired.”

The Chiefs hired/signed Long this past March, but a June knee injury kept him from joining the Week 1 roster. Now, for the good news – the Chiefs designated Long for return last week. Now, just before his 33rd birthday, Long could be on the verge of completing his comeback.

Torn ACL For WFT’s Chase Young?

November 14th, 2021 at 3:19pm CST by Zachary Links

Not yet official, but the early word isn’t promising. The Washington Football Team fears a torn ACL for star defensive end Chase Young, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). 

Young went down in the second quarter with a dreaded non-contact injury. Washington went on to win 29-19 over the Bucs, but the former No. 2 overall pick did not return to the field. Young declined to be carted off, but team doctors are pretty sure that he’s looking at a season-ending ACL tear. And, given the timing, his rehab could extend into the summer.

Although Young wasn’t having a banner year before the injury, there was hope for a stronger second half. Young finished last year with 7.5 sacks, capturing 2020 Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. So far this year, he’s got just 1.5 sacks with 25 total stops.

If Young is actually done for the year, Washington will be without both of their top defensive ends for a while. Montez Sweat — out with a broken jaw — is still weeks away from returning. James Smith-Williams, Casey Toohill, Bunmi Rotimi, and seventh-round rookie Shaka Toney stand as the only other healthy DEs on the depth chart.

Giants DC Patrick Graham Generating HC Interest

November 14th, 2021 at 12:58pm CST by Rory Parks

Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham garnered interest for the Jets’ head coaching vacancy last year, but he elected to remain with the Meadowlands’ other club for at least one more season. In the 2022 coaching cycle, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports expects Graham to draw interview requests from multiple teams.

Graham, 42, broke into coaching as a graduate assistant with Wagner College back in 2002. He slowly worked his way up the collegiate ranks and landed his first NFL gig with the Patriots in 2009. He served as Brian Flores‘ DC with with the Dolphins in 2019 before joining Joe Judge‘s first coaching staff with the Giants last season.

His work with the Giants is what has created the HC buzz. Despite not having a ton of individual talent to work with, Graham coaxed a top-10 performance out of his unit in 2020 in terms of points allowed, and though the New York defense struggled through much of the first half of this season, the club has yielded just 39 points over the past three games despite facing the likes of Derek Carr and Patrick Mahomes. Graham’s reputation as a play-caller, along with his ability to forge strong relationships with his players, has attracted league-wide attention.

Indeed, if the Giants opt to part ways with Judge this offseason, La Canfora says Graham, a Yale alum, would be a legitimate candidate to be promoted to the top job. But even if that does not happen, there should be more than one interview coming his way after the calendar flips to 2022.

Graham, who is African-American, is not on the initial list of vetted minority candidates that the NFL recently sent to its teams. However, La Canfora notes that Graham has the support of the league office, which suggests that he could appear on that list in short order.

In related news, La Canfora wrote in early October that the NFL is exploring an algorithm that could help quantify a given candidate’s attributes, which the league believes will assist minority candidates land opportunities that they might not otherwise have. The thought is that, as teams rely more and more on analytics, an objective number that an owner can look at to evaluate a particular candidate may help defeat any more subjective considerations or subconscious biases.

AFC East Notes: Watson, White, Pats

November 14th, 2021 at 12:09pm CST by Rory Parks

The much-discussed Deshaun Watson trade between the Dolphins and Texans never came to fruition, in part because Dolphins owner Stephen Ross wanted Watson to settle the 22 civil suits that have been brought against him. As Jeff Howe of The Athletic writes, Ross also wanted to speak with Watson directly and requested permission to do so, but because there was no chance that Watson’s legal situation would be resolved by the November 2 trade deadline, there was no point in having a conversation just yet.

However, if Houston and Miami reopen talks this offseason, it seems that a sit-down between Ross and Watson will be necessary before a deal can be struck.

Now for more from the AFC East, starting with another item out of South Beach:

  • Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald wonders if the Dolphins will consider parting ways with WR DeVante Parker this offseason. Though Parker has been effective when he has been on the field in 2021, he is now on IR and has played in just five games this year. Plus, the ‘Fins could save $6.2MM by making him a post-June 1 cut, though that would leave the club with even more work to do to address the receiving corps, as Will Fuller and Albert Wilson are not expected to be back. Jackson does believe Mack Hollins will be retained.
  • Jets QB Mike White, who led the club to a surprising win over the Bengals in Week 8 and who was playing well in New York’s Week 9 loss to the Colts before he was forced out with an early injury, is hugely popular in the Gang Green locker room, per Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. White’s journey and attitude have earned the respect of his teammates and have energized the building, and as Cimini writes in a separate piece, the 2018 fifth-rounder may have already made himself a nice chunk of change. He is playing the 2021 season on a one-year, $850K contract, but he will become a restricted free agent at season’s end. He should at least be in line for an original-round tender of $2.4MM, and he could force the Jets to tender him at the second-round level, which would net him $3.9MM.
  • It certainly didn’t create many headlines, but the Patriots plucked LB Calvin Munson off the Dolphins‘ practice squad several weeks ago. The 26-year-old has only seen action on special teams with his new club, but New England clearly thinks highly of him. Per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, the Pats gave Munson a contract that runs though 2022 and that included a bit of a pay bump. A number of the Patriots’ off-ball linebackers are slated for free agency at the end of the year, so Munson could have a shot at more significant playing time next season.
  • Patriots DL Byron Cowart opened the season on the reserve/PUP list. Though he returned to practice in October, the 21-day window for activating him off the PUP list has expired, as veteran NFL writer Aaron Wilson tweets. As such, Cowart, who started 14 games last year, will be forced to miss the entire 2021 campaign.

Latest On WFT QB Ryan Fitzpatrick

November 14th, 2021 at 11:03am CST by Rory Parks

Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s 2021 season will have lasted for less than 30 minutes. The veteran quarterback, who signed with the Washington Football Team this offseason, suffered a hip subluxation in the first half of the club’s Week 1 loss to the Chargers, and as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes, Fitzpatrick is expected to miss the rest of the year.

The soon-to-be 39-year-old passer landed on IR immediately after the Chargers game, and the most recent reports indicated that he could be back for this week’s matchup with the Bucs. Unfortunately, his recovery has not gone as well as hoped.

Per Rapoport, Fitzpatrick is still dealing with pain and swelling, and he cannot begin rehab on the injury until that pain and swelling subside. Until then, his recovery is focused exclusively on treatment, and not a return to game shape. His most recent MRI did show some improvement, but it sounds as if he is a long way away from even thinking about getting back on the field.

And, given his advanced age, it’s fair to wonder if this is it for one of the most likable players in recent memory. The hirsute and well-traveled signal-caller has enjoyed a long and productive career for a seventh-round Ivy Leaguer, and while he has never been a top-tier quarterback, his longevity is indicative of how much clubs value his presence. He has appeared in 166 games in his career (147 starts), and though his 59-87-1 record as a starter leaves much to be desired, he has generally been good enough to at least keep his often talent-deficient teams competitive.

As for WFT, the club will continue to forge ahead with Taylor Heinicke under center for the rest of the year. Heinicke has not been able to recapture the magic that nearly resulted in an upset of the eventual Super Bowl champion Buccaneers in last year’s playoffs, and he is clearly not the long-term solution for Washington. WFT will once again be on the lookout for QB help this offseason.

Bills Place DT Star Lotulelei On Reserve/COVID-19 List

November 14th, 2021 at 9:52am CST by Rory Parks

Per a team announcement, the Bills have placed DT Star Lotulelei on the reserve/COVID-19 list, thereby rendering him ineligible for today’s game against the Jets. Fellow DT Brandin Bryant has been elevated from the taxi squad to take Lotulelei’s place on the active roster, as Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic tweets.

Lotulelei, who will turn 32 next month, is in the midst of a five-year, $50MM deal he signed in 2018. He exercised his right to opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns, which tolled his contract and keeps him under club control through 2023. He landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list in August, but he returned for Buffalo’s Week 2 win over Miami and has started each of his seven games this season.

Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics have not been high on Lotulelei’s work in some time, and that trend has continued this year. Though his 66.8 pass rush grade is above average — he does have two sacks this year, which matches his 16-game total in 2019 — his overall mark of 53.1 positions him as the 86th-best interior defender out of 124 qualifiers. Still, he typically plays the most snaps in Buffalo’s D-line rotation, so his absence will be noticed.

As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk observes, it is believed that Lotulelei is unvaccinated. That is because the 2013 first-rounder previously needed to isolate for five days following a close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, something that only an unvaccinated player would be required to do.

There is some good news to pass along for Bills fans. As Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, RB Zack Moss, who suffered a concussion in last week’s loss to the Jaguars, has cleared protocols and will be able to play this afternoon. Moss and Devin Singletary have shared RB duties this year, but Singletary has been the better performer from a YPC perspective. Moss has mustered just 3.6 yards per carry on 65 attempts, while Singletary has posted a strong 4.9 YPC mark on 73 carries.

Moss, however, has been more effective as a receiver out of the backfield, catching 18 balls for 166 yards and a score.

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