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Update On IR-DTR Players

November 2nd, 2015 at 10:31am CST by Luke Adams

We’re now through eight weeks of the NFL season, which means we’re approaching the year’s halfway point. It also means that players who were placed on the injured reserve list with the designation to return prior to the regular season are eligible to be activated and play in their respective teams’ next games.

Players placed on IR with the designation to return are eligible to begin practicing after six weeks, and can return to game action after eight weeks, so there are some IR-DTR players who have begun practicing already, and some of them could be activated for Week 9. Not every player will be healthy enough to return immediately now that they’ve become eligible to do so, but we should see at least a handful of the 10 players who have been on IR-DTR all year be activated to 53-man rosters in the coming days.

Here’s a breakdown of the 10 IR-DTR players eligible to be activated for Week 9:

  • Jay Ajayi, RB (Dolphins): Ajayi recently said that he’s back to full health, though the Dolphins may have a decision to make in their backfield if they decide to activate the rookie runner.
  • Alex Carter, CB (Lions): Carter is on track to begin practicing after the Lions’ Week 9 bye, and likely won’t be activated right away.
  • David Cobb, RB (Titans): Cobb is expected to be activated this week, and at least one Titans beat reporter believes the rookie is capable of earning a high percentage of the team’s carries.
  • Demar Dotson, T (Buccaneers): When he began practicing, Dotson admitted his injured knee wasn’t where he wanted it to be, but it sounds like he’s made enough progress to be activated this week.
  • Charles Gaines, CB (Browns): Gaines returned to practice when he was eligible to do so, and sounds like he’s eager to get back on Cleveland’s roster. If the Browns want him active for Week 9, they’ll have to make a move soon, since the team plays on Thursday this week.
  • Dee Milliner, CB (Jets): Head coach Todd Bowles said last week that he believes Milliner will be ready to play as soon as he becomes eligible, though he cautioned that the team will need to find room on the active roster.
  • Maurkice Pouncey, C (Steelers): There has been some speculation that Pouncey could be sidelined for the entire season, but head coach Mike Tomlin still expects his veteran center back this year. That likely won’t happen for a few more weeks though, since the initial diagnosis put Pouncey on track to be out until at least Week 12.
  • Bryan Stork, C (Patriots): The Patriots’ offensive line has been hit hard by injuries this season, so having to decide between Stork and David Andrews at center will be a welcome problem for the team. Stork appears on track to return in Week 9.
  • John Sullivan, C (Vikings): After suffering a setback and undergoing another surgical procedure, Sullivan won’t be back anytime soon, and may not play at all this season.
  • Brent Urban, DE (Ravens): Asked two weeks ago about Urban, head coach John Harbaugh said that the defensive end wasn’t practicing, adding that his recovery would probably take “a few more weeks.”

While these 10 players are the only ones on IR-DTR eligible to return in Week 9, there are 12 more who will gain eligibility in the coming weeks. The full list can be found right here.

Among those 12 other IR-DTR players, the most notable name is Tony Romo, who can’t play until Week 11. The Cowboys quarterback is eligible to begin practicing this week, but Rand Getlin of the NFL Network (Twitter link) hears that won’t happen quite yet. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), Romo is still on track to return to the field when he’s eligible for game action, but it makes sense to keep getting Matt Cassel first-team practice reps in the meantime.

Jim Caldwell Expects To Remain Lions’ Coach

November 1st, 2015 at 4:45pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The last NFL head coach to suffer an embarrassing defeat in London — the Dolphins’ Joe Philbin — was fired before he had a chance to coach another game stateside. But after the Lions lost by 35 points to the Chiefs this morning, Detroit head coach Jim Caldwell doesn’t expect to similarly lose his job once he returns to the States.

“Hey, you know what, I’m working every single day,” Caldwell told reporters, including Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “My job is to get in and get my job done. Those things are answered by someone else and not me. But I fully anticipate being able to continue to do my job.

“You ask me that question all the time and I’m going to answer the exact same way,” Caldwell added. “I told you this is a day-to-day business. I’ve always known that since 1979 when I first entered, so there’s no issue there. It’s just the way it is. So leave it at that.”

Caldwell had a successful first year in the Motor City, leading the Lions to an 11-5 record and a playoff appearance. But the club has bottomed out thus far in 2015, stumbling to a 1-7 record, and ranking in the bottom 10 in both offensive and defensive DVOA, per Football Outsiders. Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and two other offensive assistants were fired following last Sunday’s game, but, at least through one contest, new OC Jim Bob Cooter‘s presence hasn’t seemed to help.

The Lions now head into a bye week, so if management was intent on firing Caldwell in-season, now would probably be the time to do it. Even if Caldwell does retain his job for now, it’s looking more and more like he will be out after the season. Albert Breer of NFL.com recently reported that if Caldwell is shown the door at season’s end, general manager Martin Mayhew would likely be fired, as well.

NFC Rumors: Johnson, JPP, Gurley, Curry

November 1st, 2015 at 11:31am CST by Sam Robinson

One of the biggest surprises in the league this season may extend for a potential encore. The Cardinals are discussing an extension for Chris Johnson, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports. Although no deal is imminent, both sides discussed the issue this week. Johnson’s playing on a one-year contract he signed in August. Signed to an $870K deal with no guarantees, the 30-year-old Johnson ranks second in the league with 567 rushing yards.

Let’s take a look at what else is transpiring around the NFC before Week 8’s early tilts kick off.

  • Jason Pierre-Paul has a chance to play next week, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Giants are reportedly open to it. They rank 31st in the NFL with nine sacks thus far. Pierre-Paul can earn $50K for each half-sack he records in an incentive-laden contract and will receive $8.7MM if he can reach 10 in the Giants’ remaining nine games. The sixth-year veteran’s only recorded double-digit sacks in two seasons.
  • The 49ers have discussed Alex Boone, Joe Staley and Vernon Davis (Twitter link) with teams, but CBSSports.com’s Jason La Canfora hears (Twitter link) that Staley is considered the most available. The 31-year-old Staley’s in the middle of a six-year, $44.65MM contract and has cap numbers of $8.3MM and $11.2MM the next two seasons. Staley’s deal runs through 2019.
  • Eagles fourth-year defensive end Vinny Curry‘s surfaced in trade discussions, Schefter reports (as relayed by Andrew Kulp of CSNPhilly.com). A 6-foot-3, 279-pound tweener in a 3-4 scheme, Curry could have value as a 4-3 end. He’s in the final year of his rookie deal and likely to depart the Eagles after the season, Kulp writes. The CSNPhilly reporter notes the best the Eagles could get for Curry, who has never started a game but recorded nine sacks off the bench last season, is a mid-round pick.
  • Rams GM Les Snead‘s paranoia over whether one of the team’s NFC West rivals would take Todd Gurley invited him to act quickly during the draft, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports. Snead was concerned about the 49ers or Cardinals drafting the potential NFC rookie of the year, so the team’s interest in the Georgia star remained a mystery. “I definitely was excited when they took me at No. 10. I was kind of shocked. They really kept it quiet,” Gurley told Farmer. “I know when they do those visits to do background checks back home, one of my high school coaches was like, ‘Yeah, the Rams came by,’ and I’m like, ‘They’re not going to take me.'”
  • NFL executives peg Robert Griffin III‘s trade value as minimal, considering his fifth-year $16.2MM option that is guaranteed against injury, and are more inclined to let Washington release the beleaguered signal-caller, Liz Clarke and Mark Maske of the Washington Post report.
  • Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wonders if Lions GM Martin Mayhew will be the latest post-London staff casualty, using Matt Millen‘s 2008 ouster as a reference point of Detroit bucking the usual trend of firing GMs after the season.

NFC Notes: 49ers, JPP, Lions, Bears

October 31st, 2015 at 5:58pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

A quick look around the NFC…

  • If the 49ers – losers of five of their first seven games – continue their downward spiral through the rest of the season, first-year head coach Jim Tomsula and his staff (notably offensive coordinator Geep Chryst and defensive coordinator Eric Mangini) could end up as the fall guys, per Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. While general manager Trent Baalke and quarterback Colin Kaepernick may also be under fire, Maiocco believes both have built up credit within the organization via past accomplishments. Thus, they have better odds than the coaches of remaining with the Niners in 2016.
  • Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, finally back with the team after a July 4 fireworks accident that cost him his right index finger, is confident his injury won’t affect his on-field performance. “There’s not going to be a major adjustment. As far as my hand goes, I’ll get used to it. I’m just fortunate to play football again,” Pierre-Paul said, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “The day I walked in here I already won. People said I was going to be out for the whole season,” the 26-year-old added. Pierre-Paul won’t play in the Giants-Saints game Sunday and it’s unclear at the moment when he’ll make his season debut.
  • New Lions offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter had past run-ins with the law in Knoxville – a DUI in 2006 and an aggravated burglary charge in 2009 – but the records of his arrests mysteriously vanished, according to Robert Allen of the Detroit Free Press. “There’s no record. There’s nothing,” said Knoxville police spokesman Darrell DeBusk.
  • The Bears worked out free agent punter Zoltan Mesko on Friday, reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Chicago brought in the left-footed Mesko in an effort to prepare for Vikings lefty Jeff Locke – whom the Bears will face Sunday.

Coaching Notes: Chargers, Caldwell, Fox, Del Rio

October 31st, 2015 at 12:25pm CST by Ben Levine

As Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com writes, it hasn’t been a great three weeks for the Chargers defense. In that span, the unit has allowed 30 first-half points to the Raiders, 548 yards to the Packers, and a game-winning touchdown to the Michael Vick-led Steelers.

Defensive coordinator John Pagano understands that he may be on the hot seat if his squad doesn’t turn it around.

“It starts with: we’re all accountable, No. 1; myself,” Pagano said (via Tom Krasovic of The San Diego Union-Tribune). “We’ve got to do a better job. We didn’t play good. We didn’t coach good.”

“This might be adverse times for us as a football unit, but it’s not adversity that will overcome us. There’s bigger things out there in life that we or guys will go through. This is something that we’ve got to grow from right now, and learn from as a team. Sometimes, it’s not an easy path.”

Let’s check out some more coaching notes from around the NFL…

  • Smith also believes that Lions coach Jim Caldwell shouldn’t be comfortable with his job security, noting that any decision would be made by owner Martha Ford. Caldwell fired three assistants earlier this week, and Smith wonders if the decision may have come from ownership. Facing a potential 1-7 start to the season, the writer says the coaching moves could be Caldwell’s final opportunity to “reinvigorate” his offense.
  • Bears head coach John Fox understands that it can be difficult for players to adapt to a new leader, and he likes what he’s seen despite his team’s 2-4 start. “We’re battling, and there are a lot of changes,” said told Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune. “You’ve got players learning new systems in all three phases, players getting used to the coaches, coaches getting used to the players.”
  • There have been rumblings that USC could pursue Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio, a USC alum, as a replacement for Steve Sarkisian. However, general manager Reggie McKenzie shut down those rumors. “We talked when we first came together–he wants to be the coach of the Oakland Raiders,” McKenzie told Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News. “His mind is not looking anywhere else… He’s sincere and I’m sincere with this. We don’t see that as an opportunity for him. He wants to be here. He’s going to do well here in Oakland, believe that.”

North Notes: Ratliff, Lions, Levy, Ravens

October 30th, 2015 at 12:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff is currently a free agent, free to sign with any NFL team, but as details continue to trickle out about last week’s incident at Halas Hall, it appears increasingly unlikely that another team will give him a shot this season.

Ratliff showed up last Wednesday in no condition to practice, prompting the Bears to send him home. After the team made the decision to cut him, Ratliff returned to the club’s practice facility, saying at one point that “he felt like killing everybody in the building,” according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune, citing a report from Lake Forest Police.

Ratliff left Halas Hall and returned again later, at which time he reportedly said, “I am the devil” and that he “wished staff member’s children would die.” Although no charges were filed against Ratliff, the Bears did call local police, with team officials alerting police of their belief that the 34-year-old owns multiple firearms, according to Campbell.

As the Bears attempt to move on from last week’s incident, let’s check in on some other items from out of the NFL’s North divisions….

  • The idea that the Lions may consider parting with quarterback Matthew Stafford after this season is “comical,” GM Martin Mayhew told reporters today, including Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Mayhew also dismissed the possibility of a Calvin Johnson trade: “Both of those guys are very important to what we’re doing as a franchise, great people off the field, great teammates. And both of those guys have Hall of Fame potential. So to say that we should move those guys doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
  • DeAndre Levy, recovering from hip surgery, may not see the field again this season after playing just 17 regular season snaps. However, Mayhew doesn’t regret locking up the Lions linebacker to a long-term extension prior to the season, as Birkett writes. “He’s not the first guy to sign an extension and get hurt. That happens sometimes,” Mayhew said. “You hate when it happens, but certainly through no fault of his own. It’s a serious injury that he’s dealing with.”
  • It was a busy day for Mayhew, who also said that he expects the Lions to be buyers, not sellers, at next week’s trade deadline.
  • The Ravens‘ front office and coaching staff have received no phone calls and just one text message from Terrell Suggs since the veteran pass rusher tore his Achilles a month and a half ago, writes Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun. GM Ozzie Newsome says he isn’t worried about the lack of communication with Suggs, who may be rehabbing on his own, adding that he expects the 33-year-old to return to the team next season.

GM: Lions Buyers, Not Sellers, At Deadline

October 30th, 2015 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

No team in the NFL has a record worse than the Lions’ 1-6 mark, but that doesn’t mean Detroit is packing it in for the season. Speaking today in London, general manager Martin Mayhew told reporters, including Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, that his club won’t go into rebuilding mode at next week’s trade deadline.

“We’re going to be probably more buyers than sellers and we’ve had some dialogue already about some guys around the league,” Mayhew said. “So we’re actively looking at those situations.”

Given the Lions’ record, Mayhew’s comments don’t make a ton of sense. Detroit would have to win just about all of its remaining games to contend for a playoff spot, so the GM insisting that the team is a buyer, rather than a seller, suggests he’s under some pressure to win now. For what it’s worth, Birkett notes that Mayhew “sounded like a man fighting to keep his job” during his conversation with the media.

According to Birkett, Mayhew also addressed the recent coaching changes on the offensive side of the ball, suggesting that former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and the two offensive line coaches that were let go shouldn’t shoulder all the responsibility for the Lions’ poor season.

“Everybody’s involved in what has happened thus far this season, especially myself,” Mayhew said. “I’m responsible for our football operations, so it is on me what has happened this season. So it certainly is not those three guys (that were fired) are not the problem, they’re not the sole problem. There’s a lot of things we need to do to get better.”

Mayhew, who looked to his watch for effect today when he said that he’s “the GM right now,” has a history of being active on the trade market. In a league that typically doesn’t see many deadline deals, Mayhew has completed three in the last seven years. The Lions GM has also consummated eight trades so far in 2015, so we’ll see if he adds to that total by next Tuesday.

NFC Notes: Ratliff, V-Jax, Boldin, Lions

October 28th, 2015 at 11:36am CST by Luke Adams

When the Bears released veteran defensive lineman Jeremiah Ratliff last week, details began to trickle out about an eruption from Ratliff that led to the move — and led to the Bears temporarily increasing the security at their team facility. Although that incident led to Ratliff’s release, it wasn’t his first such outburst, as Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report details.

According to Freeman, in the last week of the 2014 season, Ratliff showed up at a Bears practice and behaved “belligerently” toward players and coaches, leading to him being asked to leave practice multiple times. The incident sounds awfully similar to what happened at Halas Hall last week, but in 2014, head coach Marc Trestman not only didn’t discipline Ratliff — he named the defensive lineman a team captain for the coming week.

Per Freeman, the decision to reward Ratliff for the outburst may have cost Trestman the locker room, and it wasn’t long until the head coach was replaced. Under new coach John Fox, the Bears didn’t tolerate a similar display from Ratliff this season.

Let’s round up a few more odds and ends from across the NFC….

  • Encouraging Ratliff’s so-called “passion” last year didn’t work out well for Trestman — will taking a similar approach to Greg Hardy play out any better for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones? David Fleming of ESPN is skeptical, calling Jones’ support of Hardy the latest sign of dysfunction in Dallas.
  • Vincent Jackson‘s knee injury is expected to sideline him for multiple weeks, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). However, Rapoport adds that the injury won’t be a season-ender for the Buccaneers receiver.
  • With the 49ers rapidly falling out of contention, and next Tuesday’s trade deadline looming, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wonders if San Francisco would consider trading Anquan Boldin, and whether or not Boldin would welcome a trade to a contender. I wouldn’t expect the Niners to make a move involving the veteran wideout, but if they do, the Panthers would be one destination that makes some sense, as Florio observes.
  • While general manager Martin Mayhew has been aggressive in the past, Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com (video link) doesn’t expect the Lions to acquire any veterans before this year’s trade deadline. If Mayhew and the Lions make any deals, they’ll probably be for draft picks, says Rothstein.

NFC North Notes: Lions, Schwartz, White

October 27th, 2015 at 7:19pm CST by Zachary Links

A look at the NFC North:

  • Former Lions head coach Jim Schwartz is using his year-long break from football to prepare for his NFL return, Don Banks of SI writes. Schwartz just moved his family back to Nashville and he has history with the Titans, so that seems like a logical landing spot for him. Schwartz was with Tennessee from 1999-2008, mostly as Jeff Fisher‘s defensive coordinator. Other than that, there could be openings with the Colts, Saints, Jaguars, Bucs, 49ers, and maybe the Giants if Tom Coughlin decides to retire or resign.
  • Bears rookie wide receiver Kevin White won’t rule out returning to the Bears before the year is through, as John Mullin of CSNChicago.com writes. “If I can get on the field this year and we can make a run for it, I would like to help my teammates and this organization out, as planned,” White said. “If not this year, then try my best and do what I can for next year. “But [I am] not closing any doors, not saying that I’m not coming back or anything this year. There’s a chance, so do my best to try to make a comeback.” Unfortunately, however, the No. 7 pick in the 2015 draft isn’t doing much beyond jogging and he admits that he has “a ways to go.” The Bears have several weeks to activate White from the PUP list and until the end of Week 11 to decide on whether to activate him as part of the 53-man roster or shut him down for 2015.
  • Joe Lombardi, who was fired as the Lions‘ offensive coordinator, will be paid the balance of his three-year deal, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (on Twitter). That includes Lombardi’s fat $1.3MM salary for the 2016 season.

Coaching Rumors: Dolphins, Pagano, Texans

October 27th, 2015 at 12:48pm CST by Luke Adams

A report this weekend indicated that Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley is expected to receive consideration in the offseason for the Dolphins‘ head coaching job. However, asked if there’s any truth to those Haley rumors, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald (Twitter link) replied, “None.”

It isn’t the first time that Salguero has shot down a Dolphins-related report from La Canfora — during the 2014 offseason, La Canfora reported that the club was exploring trades involving players like Mike Wallace and Dion Jordan, which Salguero’s sources emphatically denied. It’s not entirely clear if the team was indeed considering deals back then, but the Dolphins ultimately traded Wallace a year later, and probably wish they had moved Jordan as well.

In this case, the performance of the Dolphins and interim coach Dan Campbell down the stretch will play a significant role in what candidates Miami considers after the season — if the club continues to look as good as it has in Campbell’s first two games, it’s hard not to imagine the team hiring him on a full-time basis.

Here are a few more coaching notes and rumors from around the NFL:

  • While Chuck Pagano‘s job in Indianapolis isn’t totally safe, it’s highly unlikely that the Colts will make a change this week, tweets Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com. Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star is skeptical that firing Pagano is the answer to turning things around for the Colts.
  • If the Colts do decide to make an in-season change, that move is most likely to happen during the club’s Week 10 bye, says Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). Cole identifies offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, defensive coordinator Greg Manusky, assistant head coach Rob Chudzinski, and quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen as the four in-house candidates to replace Pagano.
  • In the wake of Monday’s report that head coach Bill O’Brien and general manager Rick Smith disagreed on whether Ryan Mallett should be cut, Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk examines the Texans‘ organizational structure, suggesting that it will likely continue to cause problems. In Smith’s view, it may be time for either the head coach or GM – or both – to go. For what it’s worth, following Mallett’s release today, Tania Ganguil of ESPN.com tweeted that Rick Smith was always on board with the decision, but disagreed about the timing of the move, which would’ve left the team with just one active veteran quarterback.
  • The Lions‘ firing of offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi should officially put head coach Jim Caldwell on notice, writes Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com.
  • The Eagles are almost certainly giving DeMarco Murray more playing time than Ryan Mathews because of the difference between the two players’ contracts and guaranteed money, and that’s just one example of how Chip Kelly‘s moves as a GM are hampering him as a head coach, says Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Michael Reghi, Bud Shaw, Dan Labbe, and Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group debate whether Browns head coach Mike Pettine should be on the hot seat in Cleveland.
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