Chad Wheeler

Seahawks Cut OL Chad Wheeler After Arrest

The Seahawks waived offensive lineman Chad Wheeler on Wednesday, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweets. The move comes days after his arrest on suspicion of felony assault-domestic violence. Wheeler has been charged with first-degree domestic violence assault, domestic violence unlawful imprisonment and resisting arrest, Condotta adds (on Twitter).

Ugly details from Wheeler’s alleged assault have surfaced, and the 27-year-old lineman announced (on Twitter) he will leave football. Wheeler was due for restricted free agency in March.

Wheeler was booked into the King County (Wash.) Correctional Facility early Saturday morning. The Kent Police Department responded to a call from a woman who said she believed she was “being killed,” according to a police report obtained by the Seattle Times. The woman suffered a dislocated arm and was bleeding when police arrived. Wheeler was standing beside the alleged victim when authorities arrived, according to the report.

This horrifying incident reportedly began when Wheeler asked the woman to “bow to him,” and when she did not, he threw her on a bed. The report indicates Wheeler strangled the woman until she lost consciousness. After regaining consciousness and running into a bathroom, the woman called 911. The report added that Wheeler was on medication for bipolar disorder but that he had not taken the medication recently.

Wheeler started 14 games at right tackle for the Giants in 2018. After the Giants cut the former undrafted free agent in September 2019, Wheeler signed with the Seahawks. He played in five games with Seattle this season.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/12/20

Here is Saturday’s usual barrage of minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Jachai Polite; Polite tested positive for the coronavirus, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (via Twitter)

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/5/20

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/12/20

Here are Saturday’s minor moves. Many of these roster decisions involve practice squad promotions. Under the new CBA, teams are permitted to promote two P-squad players without corresponding roster moves per week. Teams can carry 55 players on their rosters for game days and can have up to 48 active.

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Promoted: RB Nathan Cottrell, TE Ben Ellefson

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: DB Nate Brooks

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team

Playoff Injury Updates: Seahawks, Brown, Iupati, Fant, Titans, Brown, Packers, Clark

The latest injury news for the divisional round games:

  • The Seahawks’ offensive line is in dire shape. Starting left guard Mike Iupati is listed as doubtful, and it looks like he’ll miss his second straight game. Even more concerning, head coach Pete Carroll said both tackles Duane Brown and George Fant would be game-time decisions. Brown has missed the last few games, and Fant has been filling in for him at left tackle. Fant played 100 percent of the snaps in Seattle’s win over Philly last week, but is dealing with a groin injury. If he’s unable to go the plan is to start Chad Wheeler at left tackle, per Joe Fann of NBC Sports. Wheeler signed to Seattle’s practice squad back in October, and hasn’t appeared in a regular season game since October. He started a bunch of games for the Giants the previous two seasons, with disastrous results. If he’s forced into the lineup, the Packers’ pass-rushing duo of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith will be licking their chops.
  • The Titans will be without a key piece of their defense as they look to pull off a second straight upset against the Ravens. Starting inside linebacker Jayon Brown has been ruled out for this weekend’s game. Brown started against the Patriots last week, but left the game with a shoulder injury. It’s a blow to Tennessee’s run defense as they look to slow down the league’s best rushing attack.
  • The Titans might not be the only team without a key defensive piece. Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who started all 16 games this season, is being listed as questionable. Clark was on a tear down the stretch, racking up 4.5 sacks in Green Bay’s last four games. If he doesn’t go it’ll help mitigate some of Seattle’s offensive line losses.

Seahawks Place Mychal Kendricks On IR

Jan. 8: The Seahawks have placed Kendricks, who will require knee surgery, on IR, per head coach Pete Carroll. The team will promote OT Chad Wheeler from the practice squad to take Kendricks’ place on the roster.

Dec. 30: If you were watching the thrilling Seahawks-49ers bout last night, you saw Seattle linebacker Mychal Kendricks in obvious pain after making a tackle along the sidelines in the third quarter. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Kendricks is believed to have suffered a torn ACL, which would obviously rule him out of the Seahawks’ playoff run (Twitter link).

It’s a tough blow for Seattle, as Kendricks started all 14 games in which he appeared this season and is an important piece of the team’s front seven. Kendricks has compiled 71 tackles, three sacks, four passes defensed, and an interception in 2019.

Of course, this could be last we hear of Kendricks for awhile. He pleaded guilty to insider trading in September 2018, and while his sentencing date has been postponed five times, he is currently scheduled to be sentenced in February 2020.

The Seahawks will travel to Philadelphia to battle the NFC East champion Eagles on wildcard weekend, which is about as favorable of a draw as they could have hoped for. Both teams are far from healthy, but the Eagles have dealt with a historic number of injuries for a playoff squad, so Seattle will have a good chance to advance to the divisional round and perhaps earn a rematch with the 49ers.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/15/19

A look at the latest NFL practice squad moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: WR Davion Davis

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

NFL Workout Updates: 10/9/19

Here are Wednesday’s updates from the workout circuit. Unless otherwise noted, all links go to the Twitter account of the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson.

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Kansas City Chiefs

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Giants Cut Kyle Lauletta; Reach 53

The Giants waived quarterback Kyle Lauletta as a part of their moves to reach the 53-man roster limit. The move leaves Alex Tanney as the No. 3 QB behind starter Eli Manning and first-round pick Daniel Jones.

Between an October arrest and a poor professional debut, Lauletta dug himself into a bit of a hole. Although the 2018 fourth-round pick is just 24 and had enough upside to merit a mid-round selection, the 31-year-old Tanney edged him out in practice. This, perhaps, isn’t a huge surprise after the G-Men signed him to a two-year, $2.1MM contract with $775K guaranteed.

Besides Lauletta, here’s how the Giants got to the limit.

Released:

Waived/injured:

Waived off the commissioner’s exempt list:

Placed on IR:

NFC East Notes: Redskins, Guice, Giants

The Redskins’ backfield situation didn’t go as planned last year. The team drafted Derrius Guice in the second round to be their starter, but then Guice tore his ACL in the preseason. They ended up signing Adrian Peterson at the last minute, and he unexpectedly became the team’s workhorse. Peterson played well all things considered, but noticeably wore down toward the end of the year and won’t be expected to handle the same workload in 2019. Guice had some complications while recovering from his injury, but is expected to be fully recovered soon.

Guice is the much younger player who would appear to have more upside, but don’t count out Peterson yet. Speaking after a recent minicamp practice, Redskins running backs coach Randy Jordan said he envisions a 50-50 or 60-40 split between the two backs this season, per Kareem Copeland of the Washington Post. Washington was depleted by injuries last year, and getting Guice back is a great step in the right direction. Assuming they end up starting Dwayne Haskins at quarterbackthey’ll need a strong running game to help take some of the load off, and a Guice/Peterson partnership has the potential to be one of the league’s better backfields.

Here’s more from the NFC East:

  • With Haskins and Guice now in the fold, the Redskins’ offense is going to look a lot different next year. They won’t be the changes, as second-year receiver Trey Quinn is coming back from an injury of his own. A seventh round pick out of SMU last year, injuries limited Quinn to just three games as a rookie. He’s reportedly been a standout this offseason though, and the team is very high on him. Speaking to the media recently, Redskins coach Jay Gruden declared him a starter. “Trey Quinn has taken over the inside slot role,” Gruden said, per JP Finlay of NBC Sports. Quinn must’ve been really impressive in practices for the coaching staff to have this much confidence in him. After Jamison Crowder left in free agency the Redskins were left with a hole in the slot, and they’re apparently comfortable with Quinn filling it.
  • Mike Remmers signed with the Giants last month, and is widely expected to be their starting right tackle in 2019. The offseason back surgery he underwent was initially deemed minor, but Remmers didn’t participate at all during OTAs or minicamp, according to Ryan Dunleavy of NJ.com. Remmers apparently isn’t fully healthy, and Dunleavy thinks there’s a chance Chad Wheeler will take advantage of the opportunity to keep the starting job. Wheeler, a 2017 UDFA, was the starter for most of last season, but played poorly. Remmers is still the favorite, but if he can’t get back soon he might end up losing the job.
  • In the same piece, Dunleavy also breaks down the Giants’ situation at receiver beyond Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate. Shepard and Tate are locked in as the top two options, but there’s not much clarity after that. Cody Latimer and Bennie Fowler both operated as the third receiver last season, but Dunleavy thinks Corey Coleman is the favorite for that role in 2019. Dunleavy writes that Coleman showed well in recent practices, as “Latimer started the offseason with the upper hand and Coleman finished with the edge.” A 2016 first round pick of the Browns, Coleman has had a bumpy road in the pros. The Browns, Patriots, and Bills have all given up on the Baylor product, but it looks like he could make a home for himself in New York.