Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images Philadelphia’s 2021 seventh-round pick is headed up the turnpike. On Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles decided they needed to open up a roster spot to sign Nick Gates from the practice squad to the active roster so that they could also have two temporary elevations to use on Parris Campbell and E.J. Jenkins. In order to open that spot for Gates, the team waived 2021 seventh-round draft pick Patrick Johnson. On Tuesday, Johnson was claimed off waivers by the New York Giants. The Giants were sixth overall in the claiming order, which mirrors the previous NFL Draft order for the first three weeks of the season. One would imagine that Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown, who spent time in the Eagles’ scouting department from 2017-2021, played a role in New York claiming Johnson. On one hand, it’s not like the Eagles losing Johnson is the end of the world. He played zero defensive snaps in Week 1. He’s played just 362 defensive snaps over 49 career games, logging zero sacks and three quarterback hits. But Johnson has at least been a reliable special teams contributor over the years with 892 snaps played on that unit. He ranked third on the Eagles in special teams tackles in 2023, when the Eagles were the No. 1 ranked ST unit by DVOA. And so to lose Johnson, who also showed some pass rushing juice this preseason, to a division rival doesn’t seem ideal. Especially when there are other moves they could’ve made to avoid this from happening. Did they really need to keep Byron Young around as a sixth defensive tackle who’s been a healthy scratch since joining the team? Why couldn’t they cut a vested veteran like, say, Oren Burks, who isn’t subject to waivers and then bring them back on the practice squad? It didn’t seem like there was a need to risk losing Johnson. But the Eagles did.
Eagles lose Patrick Johnson to the Giants
Eagles rookie report card from the Falcons game
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images The Eagles’ first loss of the season came in very disappointing fashion. While there is blame to go around for the Eagles dropping to 1-1, let’s take a look at how the Eagles rookies did in their first regularly season game at home. Quinyon Mitchell: B Mitchell was playing a masterful game before a disastrous last drive. For the majority of the game, Mitchell played great coverage on Darnell Mooney and Drake London. He even had another impressive pass breakup. On pivotal final drive of the game, Mitchell gave up two catches including one where he missed a tackle and allowed quite a few yards after. Those catches were the difference in the game. It’s hard to be all negative, even with that sour ending. Mitchell played a really good game in his second start as an NFL player and the sky is the limit for the young cornerback. The Rest Johnny Wilson got the second-most snaps out of any Eagles rookie with 19 on offense. He had a bad holding penalty and only saw one target (on an off script throw). The Eagles are getting him on the field for a limited role though. Jeremiah Trotter Junior is making good tackles on special teams but likely won’t see the field on defense barring any injuries. Will Shipley had a solid kick return! He did not see the field on offense. Cooper DeJean got one snap on defense.
Rams Reacts Survey: How confident are you that Rams are headed in right direction?
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images Time for Rams fans to speak their minds on the state of the Rams franchise Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Los Angeles Rams fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. Please take our survey
Hamilton County releases images of possible stadium upgrades and indoor practice facility
The Cincinnati Enquirer-USA TODAY NETWORK Look who’s about to join the 21st century! For the past few years, the Cincinnati Bengals haven’t had very good grades on the franchise’s facility, which are given out by the NFLPA. They have addressed some of those problems. For example, they have completely revamped their locker room, including personal shoulder pad and helmet dryers for each player. Still, the NFPA grades for the Bengals weren’t great. They even went as far to say the plumbing was an issue, players felt their families needs weren’t addressed during game days, and there were complaints about provided meals. The team’s lease with Hamilton County expires in 2026, and the Bengals and the county have been in negotiations on stadium upgrades for a while. On Tuesday, Hamilton County revealed plans for a $1.2 billion renovation of Paycor Stadium that would add new club seats, a new indoor practice facility (no more bubble), more green space around the stadium, and add a 200-foot-wide and 60-foot-tall scoreboard in the north end zone. There were no new taxes discussed at this point in the process, and, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Scott Wartman, the current administration doesn’t want to raise any new taxes. They want to use the current half-cent sales tax already in place to pay for the county’s portion of the renovations. Commissioner Alicia Reece has also asked for the NFL to provide Hamilton County with at least $100 million to help. This is just a rough draft of what the riverfront next to Paycor Stadium and the updates within could look like. Nothing has been finalized, and there are still discussions to be had on who will pay for what. You can look at the entire 107-page proposal here.
NFL Week 3 power rankings: Giants remain among league’s bottom-feeders
Luke Johnson-Imagn Images Almost defeating the Washington Commanders didn’t help their case much The New York Giants almost won a football game on Sunday, but as we all know, almost isn’t good enough. Heading into Week 3 of the NFL season, the media still agrees that the Giants are one of the worst teams in football. Although they are ranked in the bottom portion of the league rankings, the good news is that the Giants still aren’t considered the worst team in football (shoutout to the Carolina Panthers). Sports Illustrated– No. 29 Oddly, mostly positives for the Giants on this one. I think the injury to the kicker is such a freak occurrence, even if he came into the game on the injury report. I also think Daniel Jones played well enough to stave off a conversation about a QB change for a week. I also think Malik Nabers handled a high volume of targets really well. If the Giants have a kicker, they’re 1–1 and we’re talking about the No. 20–22 team in this week’s power rankings without batting an eye. This Sunday in Cleveland becomes absolute must-win territory against the best pass rush the Giants have faced so far. Sporting News– No. 30 The Giants showed a lot more needed offensive life with newcomers Malik Nabers and Devin Singletary, lifting Daniel Jones vs. Washington, but there were still key struggles to put up enough points, especially with kicker Graham Gano’s injury issues. The defense keeps wilting too easily in key spots, too. CBS Sports– No. 31 Seeing their kicker injured and out cost them a chance to beat the Commanders. They were better. At least they have a star in waiting in Malik Nabers. ESPN.com– No. 31 Most important backup/role player: CB Dru Phillips The rookie has thrived in the slot cornerback role. Phillips had 12 tackles (two for a loss) and a sack in Sunday’s loss to the Commanders. The third-round pick’s stop percentage of 12.8% is second among all slot corners through two weeks, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. He has also allowed just five receptions for 22 yards as the nearest defender in coverage. He has made a strong early impression for the Giants. NBC Sports- No. 31 At least John Mara has a very good reason to always seem irritated. NFL.com– No. 31 If you showed nothing but Daniel Jones highlights against Washington, a casual viewer might think he’s a pretty darned good QB. And positive things apparently happen when you force-feed the ball to Malik Nabers. Eighteen of Jones’ 28 pass attempts went the rookie’s way, and Nabers responded with 10 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown that put New York up at the break. He had catches for double-digit yards in all four quarters and came down with several big third- and fourth-down grabs. Even with that performance, the Giants were obviously limited in a game where they crossed midfield on six of their seven possessions but only finished with 18 points. The defense was great in the red zone (allowing the Commanders to score zero TDs in six trips) but didn’t truly stop Washington once all day, not counting the end-of-half kneeldown. Big Blue needs an almost perfect script to win a game right now.
Vikings Beat 49ers in Week 2, 23-17: The Average Fan’s Reaction
Brad Rempel-Imagn Images Here’s what the average fan, deputy editor Brandon Warne, saw in Week 2 Chances are, if you’ve ever read anything I’ve written, it was about baseball. I’ve been working behind the scenes at Daily Norseman for a couple of months now, and am ready to start writing more than just the open thread every few days. But I realize my limitations. Football is my second love, and it’s not like I’m completely without knowledge of the game. In fact, I wrote the game notes for Fox’s game coverage. So, what I deduced could be fun is observations from the average fan. I might not be able to diagnose a Cover 2 as well as Arif Hasan or break down film like Luke Braun, but like Luke, I think I can learn from our community as the season goes. So let’s go! Here are my observations from Week 2. Sam Darnold was ballin’ (v2.0) It wasn’t just when he was targeting Justin Jefferson, either. Darnold was 13-of-17 with 135 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception when targeting other receivers. After Jefferson left with a quad contusion in the third quarter, Darnold was 6-of-7 with 64 yards the rest of the way. It’s also worth noting that Darnold has done all this damage with the No. 24 pass-blocking offense, according to PFF (60.6). And while many will jump to the 97-yard connection to Jefferson as evidence for how good Darnold was on Sunday — and, justifiably so — I keep coming back to this incredible third-down conversion to Jalen Nailor. And it happened after Jefferson left the game, leaving Darnold with a pass-catching corps of Nailor, Brandon Powell, Johnny Mundt and friends. Exceptional stuff here: I can’t escape this siren song https://t.co/Mw91PoajJY pic.twitter.com/6KOS3fBNyX — Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 15, 2024 ….and then, from another angle, which highlights truly how special Darnold’s anticipation on this throw was (magnified by the down, distance and time left in the game): https://t.co/okJq8VF9g7 pic.twitter.com/04HwwBhdvW — Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 17, 2024 For the second week in a row, a newly acquired defender looks special One week after Andrew Van Ginkel had a debut to remember, Blake Cashman was the man of the (three) hour(s) on Sunday. He’s tied for 13th in total tackles so far this season with 19, but his anticipation and IQ have truly been special, and a much-needed part of Brian Flores’ defense. Also the story of how Flores became aware of Cashman came out earlier this week, and it’s kinda fun. Nevertheless, this supercut from Matt Fries of Zone Coverage highlights some of his finest plays on the afternoon: Blake Cashman had 13 total tackles, including a sack and TFL against the 49ers. That’s not even counting his three pass deflections, one of which led to an INT. He was all over the field. He had an incredible game in his return home to Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/2Fhmfo6xT1 — Matt Fries (@FriesFootball) September 17, 2024 Can we talk about Kirk Cousins, but only for a second? Listen, I know what he did to close out Monday night’s game. I couldn’t be happier for him. Truly. This isn’t from a place of bitterness, or anything. It’s just about addressing the elephant in the room. Hearing Kevin Harlan on the team’s first offensive drive saying “and the offense, led by quarterback Sam Darnold” somehow felt massively less anxiety-inducing than the previous years with Cousins under the helm. Did anyone else feel it? In fact, it’s what let me to tweet this: A kicker who makes the kicks he’s supposed to and a quarterback who isn’t Kirk Cousins are, in combination, more effective than Lisinopril — Brandon Warne (please follow: new account!) (@brandon_warne) September 15, 2024 If anyone else is feeling this, we are meeting in the comments section as soon as you’re done reading. The team, yet again, responded well to adversity The obvious example here is the Aaron Jones fumble in the red zone in the closing moments of the third quarter. Between Jefferson hobbling off the field the play before and the Vikings giving the ball back to the Niners on what resulted in a 99-yard touchdown drive — YOU LIKE THAT, Vikings? — it would have been pretty easy to say “here we go again.” And a random sampling of Vikings Twitter most likely found plenty of that. I have decided to stay off during games for the time being, because it’s not good for my mental health. Anyway, from there, Darnold responded with a Big Boy drive and the Vikings took the nine-point lead that made most of the rest of the game inconsequential, short of the onside kick recovery by Nick Muse. But that wasn’t the only adversity the Vikings battled through — it was just the most obvious. The Vikings got their second huge stop on fourth down — back-to-back offensive series’ for the Niners, mind you — a little over halfway through the second quarter. On the fourth play of the ensuing drive, with the Vikings driving just outside of the end zone, Darnold threw a pass intended for former 49ers wideout Trent Sherfield Sr. which was intercepted by Fred Warner. At the time, the Vikings were up 10-0, still vibing off two defensive stops and a loooooong touchdown pass and were in the process of taking a potential three-possession lead heading into halftime — one in which they’d also get the ball back on the opening kickoff. Instead, the 49ers answered right back with a 28-yard pass to Deebo Samuel and big runs from Jordan Mason on the way to a seven-yard touchdown reception for George Kittle. A lot of people will remember/talk about the Jones fumble — but this could have been nearly as troubling. The Vikings answered with a Will Reichard field goal and still went into the break up six, but it wasn’t 13 or 17 as many were dreaming a few minutes earlier. And yet, they persisted. Another one-score game?
BREAKING: The Miami Dolphins Place Tua Tagovailoa on Injured Reserve
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images Tagovailoa will get plenty of time to progress through concussion protocol. The Miami Dolphins have placed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Injured Reserve while progressing through concussion protocol. First reported by Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Tagovailoa will be first eligible to return in week eight when the Dolphins take on the Arizona Cardinals. The IR stint gives the Dolphins quarterback time to recover and plenty of time to meet independent neurologists for multiple opinions on his future in football. Sources to me and @RapSheet: The #Dolphins are placing QB Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve in order to give him ample time to progress through the stages of concussion protocol and meet with outside neurologists. The earliest Tagovailoa could return is Week 8 against the… pic.twitter.com/8n8t16qyK8 — Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 17, 2024 The concussion Tagovailoa sustained on Thursday Night Football last week, paired with the two documented concussions of two years ago, means the Dolphins want to give Tagovailoa as much time as needed to recover. Tagovailoa has recently said that he has “no plans to retire,” so placing him on IR will allow him to progress through the protocols without the weight of potentially playing weighing on him. Now, he can focus on his health over the next five weeks. His injured reserved stint is five weeks instead of the normal four weeks due to the Dolphins having a bye week within that span, so the designation stays on for another week. In the meantime, the Dolphins will roll out Skylar Thompson as the starting quarterback, with the recently signed Snoop Huntley backing him up. Over the next four games, the schedule for Miami appears somewhat soft. The next four games will be against the Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots, and the Indianapolis Colts. There are no “gimme games” in the NFL, but if there’s a part of the schedule you’d want this injury to land on, this is it. All four games are winnable and could give Tagovailoa substantial time to charge his battery. If Thompson can lead the team to at least a 2-2 record over these next four games, it’ll set the Dolphins up for a late run toward the playoffs with a rested Tagovailoa. In the wake of another concussion, the soft part of the schedule, coupled with ample time for Tagovailoa to rest up and get right, is a small silver lining for the outlook of the Miami Dolphins 2024 season.
Giants poach Detroit Lions kicker from practice squad
Sign up for Season 2 of PODD Big things are in store for our newsletter, Pride of Detroit Direct. I’m excited to announce we’ve added Ty Schalter this season. Listen to exclusive podcasts sent directly to your inbox and read more voices from our team at Pride of Detroit by clicking below to sign up for a 7-day free trial today!
Week 3 Reacts Survey: What is the most likely outcome of the Lions at Cardinals?
Sign up for Season 2 of PODD Big things are in store for our newsletter, Pride of Detroit Direct. I’m excited to announce we’ve added Ty Schalter this season. Listen to exclusive podcasts sent directly to your inbox and read more voices from our team at Pride of Detroit by clicking below to sign up for a 7-day free trial today!
Giants sign kicker Greg Joseph off Detroit’s practice squad
Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images Have the Giants solved their kicker problem? The Giants signed 30-year-old kicker Greg Joseph after the kicking debacle we all unfortunately witnessed in Week 2; Joseph’s agent, Brett Tessler, confirmed this: The New York Giants are signing my client Greg Joseph to their active roster from the Detroit Lions p-squad. 7-yr vet kicked for the Vikings the past 3 seasons and holds NFL record for game-winners in a season (5), Vikings record for longest FG (61 yds), & led NFL in TB% in ’21. — Brett Tessler (@TesslerSports) September 17, 2024 Joseph was signed off Detroit’s practice squad. He entered the NFL in 2018 out of Florida Atlantic as an undrafted free agent. He made 17 of 20 kicks for the Cleveland Browns during his rookie season while missing four extra points (25 of 29). Cleveland replaced him after the 2018 season and bounced around the league until he became the Minnesota Vikings’ kicker for three seasons in 2021. He has a career of 82.6% field goal percentage with season-longs of 61, 55, and 54 yards. Joseph is 16 of 28 from 50 yards or more and 22 of 30 from 40-49 yards. It wasn’t quite the Austin Seibert experience, but Joseph propelled the Vikings to victory by converting all five field goal attempts, including a 47-yard game-winner in London versus the Saints in 2022. Joseph foot concluded the largest comeback in NFL history against the Indianapolis Colts in 2022. The following week, he booted the game-winning field goal against the Giants in Week 16; that was a franchise record 61 yards. Minnesota replaced him after the 2023 season. He spent part of training camp with the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions and is now a New York Giant. Here is the list of kickers the Giants worked out after this week’s loss: #Giants kicker workouts today with Graham Gano expected to miss time pic.twitter.com/WxcK52dhSK — Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 16, 2024 The Giants also have 24-year-old international player exemption Jude McAtamney on their practice squad.
