Friday’s practice squad changes:
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots
Philadelphia Eagles
It’s official – Trent Cole is back. The Colts announced that they have activated the linebacker. To make room, quarterback Stephen Morris has been dropped. 
Cole was placed on IR earlier this season and was long thought to be the team’s top candidate for return. His 21-day window was kickstarted earlier this week but after a few days of evaluation Indianapolis decided that he is good to go.
Morris became superfluous when Andrew Luck returned to the lineup. Initially, Morris was brought in to serve as the backup for Scott Tolzien as Luck recovered from a concussion. Now, Morris will be subject to waivers. If he passes through, it’s possible that the Colts will re-sign him to the practice squad.
The Colts are now 5-6 after their Week 12 loss to the Steelers. If they want any chance of making the playoffs, they probably have to run the table from here on out.
As expected, the Colts will be without quarterback Andrew Luck when they face the Steelers on Thanksgiving in a battle of 5-5 AFC playoff contenders. Luck suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter of the Colts’ 24-17 win over the Titans last Sunday and hasn’t practiced since.
With Luck on the shelf, the Colts will turn to backup Scott Tolzien as their starter and promote Stephen Morris from the practice squad to serve as their No. 2 signal-caller. The 29-year-old Tolzien has two NFL starts under his belt – both with the Packers in 2013 – and has completed 56 of 91 passes (61.5 percent) for 721 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions in his pro career.
Luck, who missed nine games last year with various injuries and posted underwhelming numbers, had bounced back this season prior to his latest ailment. The fifth-year man has hit on 62.9 percent of his attempts (up from 55.3 in 2015), thrown for 2,827 yards and added 19 scores against eight picks. With a Thursday game this week and a Monday night matchup against the Jets in Week 13, Luck will have extra time to work his way back for the Colts’ next contest. In the meantime, the Colts won’t have the face of their franchise against a Steelers team that crushed them, 45-10, a year ago.
The Colts signed quarterback Stephen Morris to their practice squad and waived safety Lee Hightower, as Mike Chappell of CBS4 tweets. Interestingly, Morris will earn $20K per week – the most of any taxi squad player in the NFL, Rand Getlin of NFL.com tweets.
Morris, whom the Colts waived Wednesday, first joined the organization late last season after spending most of the year on the Eagles’ practice squad. He previously went undrafted out of Miami in 2014 before signing with the Jaguars, who cut him prior to last season.
The 6-foot-2, 213-pounder will give the Colts a third option at quarterback behind franchise player Andrew Luck and veteran backup Scott Tolzien. Notably, Luck missed most of last season with injuries and is now dealing with a shoulder ailment, though he’ll be ready for the team’s Week 1 showdown with the Lions.
Hightower, who split his college career between Boise State and Houston, went undrafted this year. He tried out with the Texans before hooking on with the Colts last month.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Here are today’s minor moves.
Today’s minor moves:
Here are Christmas Eve’s minor moves from around the league:
Earlier updates:
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler will miss at least two weeks with a hamstring injury, sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Backup Jimmy Clausen will now start in Cutler’s absence, but one has to wonder if Chicago might look out-of-house for veteran reinforcements if Cutler is out for an extended period of time. At the very least, David Fales could be in line for a promotion from the practice squad.
Here’s more from around the NFC:
Zach Links contributed to this post.
The Eagles have signed quarterback Thad Lewis while dropping Stephen Morris, according to Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com (via Twitter).
Lewis signed a one-year deal with the Browns in March but was released in September. The 30-year-old didn’t make an appearance with the Texans in 2014, but he did start five games for the Bills in 2013, leading the team to a 2-3 record in that span. Undrafted out of Duke in 2010, Lewis has bounced around the league, spending time with the Rams and Lions in addition to Cleveland and Houston.
Morris, an undrafted quarterback out of Miami, spent time on the Jaguars’ practice squad in 2014. The Eagles claimed him off waivers from the Jaguars earlier this month to replace Tim Tebow, but he didn’t last long in Philly.
Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC East teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, and Washington are noted below.
Additionally, as of 11:00am today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. For the 2014 and 2015 seasons, changes were made to practice squad rules that allow teams to carry eight players instead of 10, and the eligibility requirements for those extra two spots were also loosened. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.
Here are Sunday’s NFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day: