Broncos sign 2 players to practice squad

The Broncos have added outside linebacker Malik Carney and safety Tyvis Powell to their 10-man practice squad.

After placing quarterback Joe Flacco (neck) and linebacker Corey Nelson (biceps) on injured reserve, the Denver Broncos promoted quarterback Brett Rypien and linebacker Josh Watson from the 10-man practice squad to the 53-man roster last week.

To fill the two spots on the practice squad vacated by Rypien and Watson, the team has signed outside linebacker Malik Carney and safety Tyvis Powell, according to The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala.

Carney (6-3, 235 pounds) is a rookie who totaled 176 tackles — including 32.5 tackles for losses — and 17 sacks during his four years at North Carolina. Before this year’s draft, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein compared Carney to ex-Denver outside linebacker Shaq Barrett.

Powell (6-3, 210 pounds) is a third-year defensive back who has spent time with six different NFL teams, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys in August. He dressed for seven games with the San Francisco 49ers last season and totaled six tackles and forced one fumble.

Before the 2016 draft, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein compared Powell to Kendrick Lewis, who had an eight-year career in the NFL.

The Broncos’ 10-man practice squad and 53-man roster are now both full.

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Was benching TE Adam Shaheen was the right move for Bears?

The Bears benched TE Adam Shaheen for Sunday’s game against the Lions, and it appears that he’s in Chicago’s doghouse.

Prior to the start of Sunday’s Week 10 matchup against the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears made some moves on the offensive side of the ball.

Not only did they decide to switch Cody Whitehair back to center and James Daniels back to left guard, but they opted to make a change at tight end by benching tight end Adam Shaheen, who was inactive as a healthy scratch.

“We want all of our players to be able to be completely detailed and play hard and do everything they can to be the best player they can be,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said Monday.

While Shaheen was a healthy scratch in Week 10, don’t expect an immediate return to the lineup Sunday against the Rams.

“We’re still working through all of that,” Nagy said.

Reserve tight end Ben Braunecker seemed to have more success in one game than Shaheen and Trey Burton have had all season. Braunecker caught his first career touchdown pass — an 18-yard reception from Mitchell Trubisky in the waning minutes of the first half to give the Bears a 7-6 lead. It was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Expect to see more of Braunecker moving forward as he’s a better receiver than Shaheen and a better blocker than Burton. The Bears have also utilized tight end J.P. Holtz in their offense, especially as a fullback.

Much has been made about the performance of Bears tight ends this season, and rightfully so. They haven’t been productive in this unit, but then again, who has? Chicago’s offense has struggled mightily in its first eight games, and they seemed to get a glimpse of a spark at the end of the first half leading into the third quarter.

Shaheen, a former second-round draft pick, has been ineffective and costly at times. His special teams fumble on the final play of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles ended any hope of a last-second miracle comeback by the Bears offense.

But even when Shaheen is on offense, he hasn’t done a whole lot. He has just nine receptions for 74 yards this season.

Matt Nagy seemed to send a message to his team by benching Shaheen and switching a struggling Daniels back to left guard: Do your job or we’ll find someone that will.

Shaheen’s benching and the switch on the offensive line likely won’t be the last changes we see on this Bears offense moving forward in the final seven games of the season if the struggles continue.

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Wisconsin fixed problems against Iowa, but will that beat Minnesota?

Considering the Wisconsin Badgers’ situation relative to the Minnesota Golden Gophers after UW’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Had the Minnesota Golden Gophers not beaten Penn State and made themselves an even bigger target for the Wisconsin Badgers, we wouldn’t be devoting quite as much time or energy to the task of beating the Gophers on Nov. 30. Yet, one can’t work with events as one wishes they would be. One must deal with events as they actually are. It’s called living in the real world.

Minnesota has made itself more of a problem for Wisconsin. It’s not what UW fans wanted, but it is the reality the Badgers must confront. That will be a very hard game to win. Therefore, it is worth spending some of these November days focusing not just on Nebraska and then Purdue, but on P.J. Fleck and his folks. How will the Badgers go into Minneapolis and come away with Paul Bunyan’s Axe?

Based on Wisconsin’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes this past Saturday, a number of interesting questions and attached tension points have emerged. The question I will explore in this particular piece is as follows: Can Wisconsin win this game simply by eradicating mistakes, or will the Badgers need to push themselves far beyond their limits?

Yes, the best answer is “both,” but let’s be clear before we continue with this brief piece: Against Ohio State (or, to use a non-Big Ten example, LSU or Clemson), it is obvious that Wisconsin and other second-tier teams in the United States have to play way over their heads and make “value-added” plays to have a real chance to win. Is Minnesota that kind of opponent? I am inclined to say “no,” but my opinion doesn’t matter that much. A reasonable middle ground on this question is that while Minnesota certainly isn’t in Ohio State’s league, the Gophers made Penn State look bad for much of this past Saturday’s game and — had they not fumbled when leading by two scores in the third quarter — could have blown the doors off the Nittany Lions.

Minnesota went from being “a team which beats up on the bottom of the Big Ten” to “a team that is for real” against Penn State. Do we know yet if the Gophers are not merely “for real” and “a team to be taken seriously,” but genuinely ELITE? I don’t think so.

The tricky part for Wisconsin: The Badgers can’t use that lack of knowledge to assume they can win merely by avoiding mistakes against the Gophers. This leads us into the heart of this piece, and one of the most fascinating tension points of the game on Nov. 30 in TCF Bank Stadium:

The Badgers’ offense improved when the dumb penalties ceased. Wisconsin’s offense got out of its own way. Its running game flourished when the Badgers weren’t behind schedule. Two plus two equals four.

However, after the offense got out of its own way, the defense allowed a 75-yard touchdown and endured another one of its fourth-quarter swoons, the previous one being against Illinois. We wrote about the problems in the secondary which have allowed that alarming detail to remain part of this team’s identity in the second half of the season.

Imagine, then, if both the offense and the defense spend a full game not making huge mistakes, with the level of performance we saw from Jack Coan (tolerable, but not spectacular). Is that going to be enough against the Gophers? It’s an interesting query. One could go back and forth on that topic.

The strength of the argument rests with the offensive line. If there aren’t any false-start penalties and Jonathan Taylor gets four or more yards per carry, the Badgers could pound Minnesota’s defensive front and turn this game into the trench warfare battle they want. A game based on the elimination of mistakes could be all Wisconsin needs.

The weakness of this argument is based on the awareness of how much speed Minnesota has, not only in relationship to Iowa but to a Wisconsin team which was outflanked at times by Illinois. Keep in mind that if Jack Coan throws the ball against Minnesota the way he did against Iowa, the Gophers’ closing speed in the secondary might turn Wisconsin catches into incompletions on successful pass breakups. Eliminating bad mistakes from the ledger sheet will put Wisconsin in position to win, but that might not be enough to put UW over the top.

Yes, Wisconsin’s offense fixed its problems versus Iowa, and the team in general took a clear step forward from the previous two games. Yet, will that be enough to beat Minnesota? You don’t have to answer that question right away… and that’s part of the point. Wisconsin will have to wrestle with that question over the next few weeks. This is the reality facing the Badgers, now that the Gophers have made themselves such an obstacle, at least in 2019.

Chiefs HC Andy Reid explains RB LeSean McCoy’s absence vs. Titans

Is this a reasonable explanation for why RB LeSean McCoy was made inactive or just the one that Andy Reid is giving out?

Kansas City Chiefs running back LeSean McCoy was a healthy scratch against the Tennessee Titans in Week 10.

There was little indication leading up to the game against the Titans that McCoy would get the week off. Perhaps the writing was on the wall after McCoy lost a crucial fumble in Week 8 against the Packers. The Chiefs turned to Damien Williams in Week 9 as McCoy saw just six snaps.

If we’re to believe Andy Reid’s explanation, McCoy being made inactive had nothing to do with the fumble. Instead, Reid claims to be managing the workload of the 31-year-old running back.

“Yeah, I just thought it was the right thing to do right now,” Reid said after the game. “LeSean’s not getting any younger, so it’s important that I manage him the right way as we go. I just thought it was the right thing to do at this time.”

Basically, Reid chalked missing this game up to McCoy receiving veteran rest. What exactly warrants that rest, though? McCoy did have an ankle injury earlier this season, but he did not appear on the injury report during the week leading up to the Titans game.

As far as the workload is concerned, McCoy has played only 204 snaps this season. His game-high of 32 snaps came against the Detroit Lions in Week 4. Williams has seen 220 total snaps on the season, so it isn’t like McCoy is getting workhorse snaps every week.

Reid wouldn’t commit to a sure plan for McCoy moving forward. It seems there’s something Reid wants to see from him in practice before he returns to the lineup.

“We’ll see,” Reid said. “I’ll just manage him the way that I think is best so that he stays effective throughout the season. That’s not where I’m at right this minute. I’ll get there with him. We’ll see how it goes this week.”

That bit about staying effective has me wondering if Reid isn’t trying to motivate McCoy by making him inactive. It feels strikingly similar to what happened with Reggie Ragland earlier in the season. Reid claimed he was still a starter, yet he was inactive for several weeks before he was eased back in and became a bigger part of the game plan.

Could something like that work with McCoy? We’ll find out when he makes his return, which could be as early as Monday night in Week 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers in Mexico City.

Felix Verdejo hires Ismael Salas in effort to recharge career

In a move Felix Verdejo hopes will help him regain momentum in his career, he has hired respected Cuban trainer Ismael Salas.

Felix Verdejo was once considered the next great fighter coming out of Puerto Rico. Emphasis on the word “was.”

The 2012 Olympian was expected to be a multi-time titleholder by now but injuries and a legal battle with his trainer-manager Ricky Marquez – as well as a stunning knockout loss to Antonio Lozada in March of last year, his first setback – has hampered his career.

Now, in a move Verdejo hopes will help him regain momentum, he has parted ways with Marquez and hired respected Cuban trainer Ismael Salas, with whom he’ll work in Las Vegas.

Salas, once an amateur coach in Cuba, trains Erislandy Lara and has worked with a number of other top fighters.

“I am proud to announce that Ismael Salas will be my new coach,” Verdejo said in a statement. “I am confident that in Salas I have found the coach that will take my boxing career to the next level.”

Verdejo (25-1, 16 knockouts) last fought in April, when he defeated Bryan Vasquez by a unanimous decision. His first fight with Salas is expected to take place in January, according to ESPN.com

“Salas is a terrific trainer and I think he fits Felix’s personality. Salas is a great choice,” Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti told the website.

Where are they now? The Class of 2010 in boys basketball

USA TODAY High School Sports revisits the boys basketball recruiting Class of 2010 and what its members achieved in college and the NBA in the subsequent decade.

As boys basketball Early Signing Period gets underway Wednesday, a new cast of players hoping to be the stars of the future will officially end their recruitment.

On this day, fans will see which schools sign the best high school prospects and position themselves for success in the coming seasons.

With that in mind, let’s take a look back to the signing class one decade ago, the 2010 class, and what became of its top recruits.

High school stats and info are compiled from MaxPreps or the player biography on the respective college websites, unless otherwise stated. The class ranking is based on the 247Sports Composite.

Harrison Barnes

School: Ames (Iowa)
College: North Carolina
NBA team: Sacramento Kings
Noteworthy: Barnes looked like the next big thing when he enrolled at North Carolina as the No. 1 player in the Class of 2010. Named the 2009-10 ALL-USA Player of the Year, he averaged 27.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 4.0 steals per game, became the school’s all-time leader in points and lead Ames to back-to-back undefeated championships. He was drafted by the Golden State Warriors, where he won a title in 2015 and has since played for the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings.

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Eric Paschall jersey-swapped with childhood friend Donovan Mitchell

After growing up playing AAU basketball together, the two friends caught up with each other after the game on Monday and exchanged jerseys.

Golden State Warriors rookie Eric Paschall had his first opportunity on Monday night to play his childhood friend, and Utah Jazz guard, Donovan Mitchell.

The two grew up playing AAU together in New York and have remained close ever since. Prior to the beginning of the season, Mitchell even named Paschall to be his sleeper pick for the Rookie of the Year award.

“He brings so much to a team that’s ready to play now,” Mitchell said at the time. “He is a defender, he is athletic, he can shoot and he’s strong. He wasn’t like that when we were younger.”

Though it was Mitchell and the Jazz that walked away with the 122-108 win over Paschall, the two friends caught up with each other after the game and exchanged jerseys.

Paschall recorded eight points and six rebounds in 30 minutes off of the bench while Mitchell had 23 points in the contest. The two were briefly matched up with each other as Paschall held Mitchell scoreless on three shot attempts.

The game for the two friends was surely a special moment after playing with each other countless times growing up. After losing on Monday, Paschall will certainly have something to say the next time they play on Nov. 22 in Utah.

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Eagles Wire discussion forum: Can Philadelphia make a playoff run without a true deep threat on the perimeter?

Can the Eagles make a playoff run without a true deep threat on the perimeter?

With the news that DeSean Jackson’s core muscle surgery will keep him out until at least the playoffs, the question has to be asked, can the Philadelphia Eagles make a lengthy playoff run without a true deep threat?

During the season opener, Jackson went off, catching two 50+ yard touchdowns and displaying the threatening deep speed that keeps coordinators up at night. Without Jackson, the Eagles are one of the worst in the NFL at pushing the ball downfield.

Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor have both underperformed at times, but Agholor’s inability to be a deep threat is most concerning. Mack Hollins has gone 200 offensive snaps without a catch, while JJ Arcega-Whiteside can’t get on the field. Eagles wide receivers have combined for 719 yards since Week 2, while the receiving corps rank 32nd in receiving yards per target, 31st in yards per reception and 30th in yards after the catch per The Athletic.

Jordan Matthews was recently signed, but he’s more of a possession style wide receiver and it’ll be interesting to see just how much of an effect he’ll have on the deep passing game.

We pose the question to you: Can the Eagles make a playoff run Share your thoughts and join the discussion at the Eagles Wire forum.

Pelican Peek: Injuries further dampen brutal start for New Orleans

The New Orleans Pelicans picked up their second win of the season on the week but injuries highlight more struggles for the team.

Results: Loss versus Toronto, 122-104; Win at Hornets, 115-110; Loss versus Houston, 122-116

The New Orleans Pelicans have had a brutal start to the season that has only grown worse through matters not even on the court. Injuries to Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram left both out of action for Monday’s contest against the Rockets. For Ball, Monday’s game was the second-consecutive contest he sat out after suffering an injury in last week’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.

With Ingram on Saturday, New Orleans grabbed its second win of the season on the road against Charlotte. Without him on Monday, the underpowered Pelicans struggled against one of the Western Conference elites in the Rockets.

As reports have begun circulating that Paul George could make his return to the court on Thursday this week against the Pelicans, matters may only get worse moving forward if New Orleans can’t start to turn things around.

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Locked On Wolverines Podcast (Ep. 254): Michigan vs. MSU

Thoughts on the two press conferences, the MSU depth chart and where the Wolverines have clear advantages.

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There’s a lot to parse through as the in-state rivalry readies to take place. We get into all of it, the MSU depth chart, the matchups, Michigan’s advantages and what the players and coaches are saying on both sides.

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