HEADLINES

Month: November 2024

Colts To Waive Rodrigo Blankenship, Add Two Kickers To Practice Squad

September 13th, 2022 at 2:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

Back after missing most of last season, Rodrigo Blankenship missed a crucial field goal that would have avoided the Colts’ first tie in 40 years. The team is now moving on from the third-year kicker.

Indianapolis is waiving Blankenship Tuesday, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). The team may be set to hold a pre-Week 2 practice competition. Chase McLaughlin and Lucas Havrisik are signing to the Colts’ practice squad, Pelissero adds (via Twitter). Former Jaguars Matthew Wright and Josh Lambo also worked out for the team Tuesday, per the Indianapolis Star’s Joel Erickson (Twitter links).

This will mark an Indiana return to Indianapolis for McLaughlin, whom the team used during part of the 2019 season. An an Adam Vinatieri injury brought in McLaughlin, who had already kicked in games for the Chargers and 49ers that year. McLaughlin finished the season with the Colts, who replaced him with Blankenship in 2020. McLaughlin went 5-for-6 on field goals with Indy in 2019. He was 15-for-21 in 16 Browns games last season. A UDFA rookie out of Arizona, Havrisik was the Wildcats’ kicker for most of the past five seasons. His two 57-yard makes in college double as the Pac-12 program’s record. Havrisik also participated in the Colts’ rookie minicamp this year.

In addition to his 42-yard overtime miss, Blankenship sent two kickoffs — his final regulation kick and the overtime opener — out of bounds. The Texans scored on neither of the ensuing drives, but some with the Colts were more frustrated with those sequences than the OT field goal miss, The Athletic’s Zak Keefer tweets.

Blankenship has not been the Colts’ primary kickoff man for most of his career. Longtime punter Rigoberto Sanchez handled those duties when available. The latter going down during a training camp practice led to the Colts signing Matt Haack but using their kicker as their kickoff man in Week 1.

Last season, the Colts placed Blankenship on IR — after his injury in Baltimore contributed to a Monday-night collapse — and used Michael Badgley as their kicker in the final 12 games. The team did not bring Badgley to training camp, however, with Keefer adding it viewed rookie UDFA Jake Verity as the higher-upside choice (Twitter link). The Colts waived Verity as they moved their roster to 53.

A former four-year Georgia Bulldogs kicker, Blankenship signed with the Colts as a 2020 UDFA. Blankenship made 87% of his field goals as a rookie, though he was 1-for-3 from beyond 50 yards. This will be the third time in four seasons the Colts will have needed to make an in-season kicker switch. Vinatieri’s early-season struggles in 2019 led to a late-season surgery, beginning the stretch of uncertainty. Prior to that, the most notable in-season kicker change the Colts had made occurred back in 2009, when a Vinatieri injury prompted the eventual AFC champions to sign Matt Stover. Excepting the Stover year, the Colts used two kickers from 1998-2010 — Mike Vanderjagt and Vinatieri.

Steelers’ T.J. Watt Will Not Require Surgery

September 13th, 2022 at 1:51pm CST by Adam La Rose

The best-case scenario has been confirmed with respect to T.J. Watt. The Steelers’ top defender will not require surgery, and he will begin the rehab process which should keep him sidelined for roughly six weeks, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports (on Twitter). 

Watt suffered a torn pectoral muscle, as was initially feared. However, as Rapoport details, the tendon was not torn, leaving rehab as an alternative to what would have likely been season-ending surgery. By taking the former route, Watt will be able to return at some point relatively soon, as he confirmed (on Twitter) this afternoon.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Watt’s absence will still be felt, of course. Pittsburgh will turn to 2020 third-rounder Alex Highsmith and recent trade acquisition Malik Reed as starters on the edge. Not surprisingly, the team has already taken steps to add depth at the position, though.

The Steelers signed Ryan Anderson to the practice squad, per Rapoport’s colleague Tom Pelissero (Twitter link). A former second-round pick, the 28-year-old never lived up to his draft stock during his four seasons in Washington, with his best career season coming in 2019 (44 tackles, four sacks, five forced fumbles). He initially signed with the Giants last offseason, but was cut in August and did not see any action in 2021.

Anderson could see himself elevated on gamedays; the Steelers are also likely to be active in searching for more depth options on the open market. It remains to be seen if Watt will be placed on IR to open a roster spot, but the fact that he will return around the midway mark of the season is a hugely positive development for the Steelers’ 2022 aspirations.

Seahawks S Jamal Adams Suffers Quadriceps Injury

September 13th, 2022 at 11:11am CST by Adam La Rose

12:06pm: Carroll indicated that Adams will need to “get some work done” as a result of the injury (Twitter link via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero). Carroll also said, “I know it’s serious and it just breaks your heart,” pointing to a lengthy (if not season-ending) absence for the safety.

11:11am: The Seahawks’ surprise victory last night appears to have come at a significant cost. Safety Jamal Adams suffered a quadriceps injury in the second quarter which led to him being carted off the field. 

“His quadricep tendon I think got damaged some tonight,” head coach Pete Carroll said after the game, via ESPN’s Brady Henderson. “He got hurt. So it’s a serious injury.”

Adams has yet to play a full season since being traded to Seattle by the Jets in the 2020 offseason. A groin injury limited him to 12 games played in his first Seahawks season, one in which he earned a third straight Pro Bowl nod with 9.5 sacks. That performance was an encouraging sign for himself and the team, after Adams signed a four-year, $70MM deal which was a record for safeties at the time upon his arrival in the Emerald City.

The 2021 campaign was much different in terms of production, though. Adams failed to record a sack for the first time in his career, as his defensive responsibilities were altered. He did manage a pair of interceptions, but was once again sidelined by an injury. The second shoulder injury Adams suffered in the span of less than one calendar year ended his campaign in December.

Between that point and the beginning of the 2022 regular season, the former sixth overall pick also underwent finger surgeries, adding to his total number of ailments. If this latest injury is indeed serious, it would represent another blow to his Seahawks tenure, and leave the team without its highest-paid defender. Adams and Quandre Diggs – who inked a three-year, $40MM contract this offseason – were in line to operate as the anchors of Seattle’s secondary, one which includes a number of new faces at cornerback.

Josh Jones took over for Adams following the injury, and made seven total tackles during last night’s game. The 27-year-old journeyman was a second-round pick of the Packers, but also spent time with the Cowboys, Jaguars and Colts before joining the Seahawks last season. He has 26 starts to his name, a total which could stand to increase if Adams misses significant time.

Cowboys Won’t Place Dak Prescott On IR

September 13th, 2022 at 9:55am CST by Adam La Rose

After he underwent successful surgery on his injured thumb yesterday, attention surrounding Dak Prescott will now turn towards his recovery timeline. The Cowboys are optimistic that their franchise quarterback’s absence will be shorter than initially expected. 

Team owner Jerry Jones said this morning that the team will not be placing Prescott on IR (Twitter link via Jon Machota of The Athletic). Doing so was the expectation after the news of his injury broke, and would have guaranteed that Prescott missed the Cowboys’ next four games. Instead, this move leaves open the possibility that he could return in less than one month.

The recovery timetable was initially reported to be six to eight weeks. However, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweets that Prescott’s window to return could actually be four to six weeks, making the team’s decision a more understandable one. Dallas will play the Bengals in Week 2, followed by divisional games against the Giants and Commanders. A three-week absence through that stretch could set up Prescott for a return in Week 5 against the Rams. Prescott not going to IR will allow him to practice, when that time comes.

Perhaps more realistically, another key NFC East contest in Philadelphia the following week could be the time at which the two-time Pro Bowler is back on the field. In any event, the fact that the Cowboys are optimistic Prescott will be available for multiple games before their bye week is a significant and encouraging update for their offense. In the absence of Amari Cooper and Tyron Smith in particular, expectations were raised for Prescott to carry the unit which led the league in scoring last year.

Given the team’s positive outlook, it comes as little surprise that Jones also confirmed (via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, on Twitter) the Cowboys will not be pursuing a veteran backup. Cooper Rush will fill in for Prescott for the time being, leaving Will Grier as the No. 2. Should Prescott be able to return in just a few weeks, their performances will be less impactful on Dallas’ season than it originally seemed.

Steelers Hopeful T.J. Watt Can Return In October

September 13th, 2022 at 8:35am CST by Sam Robinson

SEPTEMBER 13: More information is still being gathered, but there is a growing sense that surgery will not be needed and that, as a result, Watt will indeed be able to return in roughly six weeks (Twitter link via Rapoport). His colleague Tom Pelissero tweets that the Steelers are likely to place him on IR given that timeframe, though they have yet to do so.

SEPTEMBER 12: The next couple of days will be important for the Steelers’ 2022 defensive aspirations. Fears of T.J. Watt having suffered a torn pectoral muscle have not been proven unfounded, but the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year is not being shut down for multiple months just yet.

Watt will receive second and third opinions from doctors on Tuesday, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter report (Twitter links). A surgery would likely lead to a season-ending shutdown, but the Steelers are also optimistic Watt did not suffer a full tear. The team is hopeful Watt, in the event of a partial tear, could to return in around a month, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones (on Twitter).

Pittsburgh’s wild overtime win finished without Watt, who left the field during the fourth quarter. The NFL’s two-time reigning sack leader posted a sack — one of the Steelers’ seven on Joe Burrow in Week 1 — and three tackles for loss in Pittsburgh’s five-period victory. Their prospects of pressuring quarterbacks would take a substantial hit if Watt sustained a full pectoral tear.

In each year of Watt’s career, the Steelers have led the NFL in sacks. That has helped fuel a defensive turnaround, after a more offensively oriented “Killer B’s” period, during that stretch. Since drafting Watt in the 2017 first round, the Steelers have not had to play an extended period without him. Watt, 27, has never missed more than two games in a season.

No matter what the final rounds of testing produce, it appears certain Watt will be out for a while. The league’s highest-paid edge rusher missing half the season and the rest of it are obviously two vastly different realities, however. This season marks the first of Watt’s four-year, $112MM extension. The Steelers No. 2 and No. 3 edge rushers are signed to rookie contracts.

Pittsburgh’s trade for Malik Reed looms large now. The former UDFA will now be in position to play alongside Alex Highsmith. The team sent Denver a 2023 seventh-round pick for the fourth-year veteran last week. Reed has three years’ worth of experience being called into action as a result of a major injury. Bradley Chubb‘s ACL tear made Reed Von Miller‘s top 2019 complementary rusher, and Miller’s season-nullifying ankle injury a year later kept Reed in the lineup. Chubb missed much of last season due to ankle trouble. That and the Miller trade kept Reed (34 career starts) a lineup fixture. Reed played 32 defensive snaps against the Bengals.

With K Harrison Butker Ailing, Chiefs Sign Kicker To Practice Squad

September 12th, 2022 at 9:00pm CST by Ely Allen

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is dealing with an ankle injury from the team’s season opener. He returned to the game later on, but the injury may be more serious than initially thought as Kansas City opted to add former Jets kicker Matt Ammendola to their practice squad tonight, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. 

Butker slipped on the kickoff following the Kansas City’s opening scoring drive yesterday and limped off the field with a hurt ankle. The Chiefs trotted out safety Justin Reid for the next two extra point attempts, which he split one for two. After Reid’s missed extra point attempt, the Chiefs brought Butker back for field goals and extra points, but kept Reid as the kickoff specialist.

Seeing Butker’s return inspired hope that his injury was not too serious, but today’s signing hints that there might be reason to worry. Ammendola was the winner of what was a kicking contest between several free agents today, according to another tweet from Pelissero. He beat out Elliott Fry, Chase McLaughlin, Cody Parkey, Tristan Vizcaino, and rookie Cameron Dicker.

Ammendola went undrafted two years ago out of Oklahoma State. He eventually spent a few months in the offseason leading up to the 2021 season with the Panthers before signing with the Jets. He made his NFL debut in New York, playing in 11 games. Ammendola was perfect from within 40 yards, going 11 for 11, but struggled from a distance going two for eight on kicks longer than 40 yards, including missing all three kicks from over 50 yards. He was mostly reliable on extra points, though, converting 14 of his 15 attempts. He also served double-duty doing kickoffs and punts for the Jets.

It’s not a foregone conclusion that Ammendola is kicking for the Chiefs this week, but placing him on the practice squad allows the Chiefs to call him up on a day’s notice if Butker is not feeling 100-percent leading up to the team’s Thursday night matchup against the Chargers.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/12/22

September 12th, 2022 at 7:41pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s practice squad moves from around the NFL:

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/12/22

September 12th, 2022 at 6:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Monday’s minor moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Los Angeles Chargers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Robinson has been mostly a rotational defensive end with the Seahawks, but the Syracuse product has five sacks in his two seasons. Robinson suffered a knee injury in Seattle’s preseason finale. He can return after four games, though teams only have eight IR-return slots — way up from the pre-COVID NFL but down from the 2020 and ’21 unlimited IR-return setup — this season.

The Seahawks will be without their primary long snapper, Tyler Ott, on Monday night. Ott is out with a shoulder injury. Tinker has been an NFL snapper since 2013, and the veteran specialist has experience with Seahawks kicker Jason Myers. The duo played together in Jacksonville during the mid-2010s.

Elijah Mitchell Facing Extended Absence

September 12th, 2022 at 5:41pm CST by Ely Allen

SEPTEMBER 12: The injury could cost Mitchell a significant chunk of his second season. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweets that Mitchell is expected to miss “some time” as a result of the injury, and ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter adds (via Twitter) that timetable will likely land in the two-month range.

MCL sprains typically do not produce this long of an absence, and Mitchell battled through multiple injuries to return to the field fairly quickly last season. But Kyle Shanahan has since confirmed an eight-week absence is slated, via The Athletic’s Matt Barrows (on Twitter). Wilson, who entered the season as San Francisco’s clear-cut No. 2 back, is expected to replace Mitchell as the starter. Despite the lengthy timetable, Shanahan said Mitchell is not expected to need surgery.

SEPTEMBER 11: In the second quarter of their season opener, the 49ers’ running back woes from the past few years continued as starter Elijah Mitchell left the field with a knee injury, according to Field Yates of ESPN. This was certainly not the news that San Francisco needed today, in a game that needed it to be able to run the ball well, but, with Mitchell’s injury history, the news is even more concerning for the rest of the season.

Mitchell missed six games last year and had knee surgery in the offseason that forced him to miss all of the team’s spring practices. When asked about the status moving forward for Mitchell, head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters (David Bonilla of 49ers Web Zone), “I’m not sure. I know they said they thought he had a chance to come back and then they ruled him out about a quarter later, so I’m not sure yet.”

With rookie third-round pick Tyrion Davis-Price designated as “out” going into the game, San Francisco had two healthy backs remaining, Jeff Wilson, who filled in as RB1 when Mitchell was sidelined last year, and undrafted rookie Jordan Mason.

When Mitchell exited the game, Wilson was the only running back to take any carries for the offense, but he was not the only rusher. Obviously, quarterback Trey Lance had his fair share of scrambles, as expected, but after Wilson’s nine carries for 22 yards, Deebo Samuel continued his hybrid role with eight carries for 52 yards while running in the team’s only touchdown of the day. Third-year receiver Brandon Aiyuk also recorded a carry.

The lack of early news on Mitchell’s outlook may be good news, but, considering his recent surgery and injury-history from last year, a knee injury was the last thing the 49ers wanted to see. Fortunately, San Francisco has plenty of experience from recent seasons in putting together a strong rushing attack despite injuries, and the 49ers’ offense is well-designed to let key offensive players like Lance and Samuel supplement their running game when needed.

Dak Prescott Undergoes Thumb Surgery

September 12th, 2022 at 5:27pm CST by Adam La Rose

5:27pm: Prescott has undergone the thumb surgery, according to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). The operation was successful, but the wait begins. Rather than acquire another quarterback, the Cowboys are sticking with Rush. The former UDFA has been Dallas’ primary backup since Tony Romo‘s 2017 retirement. Prescott is expected to attend the now-Rush-centered position meetings as he rehabs.

8:51am: The Cowboys suffered a significant loss on the scoreboard and the depth chart last night, as quarterback Dak Prescott left the game with a thumb injury. He will undergo surgery to address the issue, which ESPN’s Todd Archer reports is expected to keep him sidelined for six to eight weeks. As a result, Archer adds, Prescott will likely be placed on IR. 

During postgame availability, head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that the injury is “significant.” Prescott, meanwhile, offered a somewhat encouraging update by saying that the fracture in his throwing hand “was much cleaner than it could have been.”

Nevertheless, the injury is a crushing blow for the Cowboys, whose offense already faced plenty of questions heading into last night. Left tackle Tyron Smith will be sidelined until at least December due to a torn hamstring, and the injuries to wideouts Michael Gallup and James Washington leave the team with few established pass-catchers. Overcoming those absences will be significantly more difficult without Prescott, who will be on the shelf for the second time in the past three seasons after an injury-free start to his career.

The two-time Pro Bowler was limited to five games by an ankle injury in 2020, but still landed a $40MM-per-year deal the following offseason. He played in 16 games last year, posting an 11-5 record while throwing for 4,449 yards and 37 touchdowns. Expectations were high for he and the team again in 2022, but things have changed dramatically in the span of one night.

“It’s very disappointing,” Prescott said, via Bobby Kownack of NFL.com. “But injuries happen. You can’t necessarily control it. It’s just unfortunate… but I’ll do what I’ve always done any time adversity comes. Take it on headfirst, give it my best, and I’m sure I’ll come out of this thing better.”

Cooper Rush will now take over as Dallas’ starting QB; the former UDFA had made 11 appearances with the Cowboys before filling in for Prescott last night (but only one start). He, along with Will Grier, were temporarily let go of during roster cutdowns, but the team fully intended to keep both of them in the fold. Grier will likely be signed to the active roster from the practice squad, unless the Cowboys search for outside options to replace their signal-caller for the intermediate future.

Load More Posts