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NFL

Injuries shelve Seahawks WR Baldwin, DE Jordan
5:06 PM ET

  • Brady HendersonESPN

RENTON, Wash. – Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin is expected to miss “a couple weeks” with a knee injury, coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday.

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Baldwin has been sidelined for the past three days of training camp. Carroll didn’t specify the nature of the injury beyond describing it as a sore knee, but he called the situation “a little bit of a problem.”

“We’re gonna give him a couple weeks here before we bring him back out to make sure that we’ve ramped him back up properly,” Carroll said. “He came into camp a little bit off and we just want to make sure that we take care of him. We know exactly what’s going on. He’s doing some special treatments to make sure that we’re taking care of him, and we want to bring him back into shape so we can really get him ready for the long haul.”

Baldwin, 29, has led the Seahawks in receiving in five of his seven years in the NFL. He narrowly missed out on his third straight 1,000-yard season in 2017 but still made his second career Pro Bowl as an injury replacement.

Fellow receiver Brandon Marshall, who’s vying for a spot on Seattle’s roster, also didn’t practice Tuesday for an undisclosed reason.

Carroll also had a somewhat ominous-sounding prognosis on defensive end Dion Jordan, a projected starter who has been on the physically unable to perform list to begin camp. Carroll described Jordan’s injury as a “stress issue” unrelated to the knee surgery he had over the offseason.

“It’s gonna be a while,” Carroll said. “The word is it’s gonna be a while. He’s got a little bit of healing to do, so it’s gonna be a while.”

With Frank Clark, Seattle’s other starting end, still coming back from wrist surgery, Carroll was asked how much shopping the team may need to do in order to reinforce the position.

“I don’t know. We’re always shopping,” Carroll said.

Asked if the Seahawks have had any communication of late with free safety Earl Thomas, who’s holding out, Carroll only said “no.”

NFL

Swearinger butts heads with helmet hit rule

RICHMOND — Washington Redskins safety D.J. Swearinger says the NFL’s helmet-to-helmet is “eliminating football, the real football” and will force defenders to strike low.

A new rule this season will penalize players 15 yards for lowering their helmets upon contact, taking the helmet-to-helmet rule one step further. There’s also a chance players might be ejected from the game for targeting. Swearinger was most upset with the helmet-to-helmet aspect of the rule, saying it leads to problems for defensive backs — and could lead to more problems for offensive players.

“They want us to, I guess, hit with our shoulder,” Swearinger said. “I guess not hit a guy when he ducks. So I guess we just gotta aim for the knees. That’s the only way I know how. If you don’t want me to hit you, then I guess it’s the only way, the only way.”

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Five years ago, Swearinger was criticized by some for a low hit on Miami tight end Dustin Keller, leading to multiple torn ligaments. After the game, Swearinger said he had no choice, saying he’d be fined if he hit him high.

Swearinger’s recent comments from training camp were consistent with what he has said since the new rule was announced at the owners meetings in March. That day, Swearinger tweeted, “Obviously Not Football ANYMORE! THE GAME WE LOVE IS GETTING DESTROYED EVERYDAY.”

When NFL officials visited the Philadelphia Eagles last week, side judge Mark Perlman told reporters that players on both sides of the ball would be penalized 15 yards when they lower their helmet upon contact. They also told reporters it wouldn’t be a penalty if the player was bracing for contact.

“As players, we’re in the game and you want to be part of every conversation,” Redskins corner Josh Norman said. “But are we? I don’t know anyone getting seats at the table at that meeting or having any influence on it.”

He said no one should tackle by leading with their helmet.

“That’s basic football 101,” Norman said. “Head up, bow neck, tackle with your facemask. It’s not with the crown of your head. People get paralyzed like that. Who does that? I know if I have a play like that, it’s an accidental play. Now it’ll be easier for refs to throw another flag for something a player, in that split second, didn’t intend to do.”

The Carolina Panthers had that time of situation in camp Monday.

Rookie safety Rashaan Gaulden had a violent helmet-to-head collision with wide receiver Jarius Wright in the back of the end zone. First teammates and then coach Ron Rivera spoke to Gaulden about the hit that could have resulted in a 15-yard penalty and possible ejection.

“Every time we see something that looks close or suspect I’ll go up the guy and mention it to him,” Rivera said. “We had a collision today in the red zone. I went over and talked to the player and said that’s going to be suspect because that falls right into the spear idea of using your helmet.

“We’ve got to make sure these young people understand it. Quite honestly, it’s going to take more than just us talking to them. It’s got to be filtered down to Pee Wee football. They’ve got to learn to tackle properly, that the heads not a head to be used.”

Rivera said Gaulden’s hit wasn’t intentional and may have been difficult to avoid.

“It was a bang-bang hit,” he said. “The thing he has to understand is where the head is positioned. It’s one of the things these guys have to learn when these bang-bang plays happen they can’t happen with the head. They have to happen with the head here (side), chest up.”

Information from ESPN’s David Newton was used in this report.

NFL

Helmet-hit presentation has Eagles perplexed

PHILADELPHIA — A presentation this week by NFL referees to the Philadelphia Eagles on the new helmet rule caused frustration among the players, according to team members, and created further confusion for some about what is expected of them.

“We were trying to ask questions to get a better understanding, and yet they couldn’t really give us an answer,” linebacker Nigel Bradham said. “They couldn’t give us what we were looking for.”

Under the new rule, a player will be penalized 15 yards and potentially fined or ejected for lowering his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.

During the presentation, which lasted close to an hour according to Bradham, players were shown clips of what are now considered illegal hits — some of which appeared to them as routine tackles.

Seeking further clarification during the Q&A that followed, the players showed the presenters a video of safety Malcolm Jenkins’ hit on wide receiver Brandin Cooks during Super Bowl that knocked Cooks out of the game. The refs were split on whether it would now be considered an illegal hit.

“I’m going to make that play 10 times out of 10. If it’s a flag, it’s a flag,” Jenkins said after practice Sunday, adding that he doesn’t believe that hit would lead to an ejection under the current policy. “You can’t slow yourself down thinking about rules in a split second. The game happens really, really fast, faster than the rules, I think, take account for, but I won’t let it affect the way I play.”

Questions about the legality of this hit by Malcolm Jenkins on Brandin Cooks going forward led to more confusion and frustration for Eagles players. EPA/Justin Lane

The rule applies to not only tacklers but linemen and ball carriers as well. The concern for running backs is that they are going to have to retrain themselves after years of attacking a certain way.

“It’s going to take a different approach to learn as individuals how to keep our head up and see what we’re doing,” Matt Jones, a 6-foot-2, 239-pound power back said. “But it’s going to be kind of hard because we’re taught to run through guys and put our helmet where their number is at. It’s like if it’s a third-and-1 and you have to have it, and you meet in the hole, there’s no way possible you’re not going to meet head-on-head and helmet-on-helmet.”

The meeting between the Eagles and refs was described as spirited, with the players expressing consternation over the new rule.

“[The refs] were kind of like, ‘Hey, we didn’t make the rules.’ Because I think guys were kind of frustrated,” running back Wendell Smallwood said. “Most of the defense was like, ‘Man, how are we supposed to tackle?’ They were frustrated.”

Added Jones: “It was definitely going back and forth. ‘We’re running backs, and we can’t do that?’ And, ‘We’re a defense; how are supposed to tackle?’ We didn’t get an answer we wanted. We just have to abide by the rules and keep from getting fined and ejected.”

The refs told the players that they watched six games and found only three instances where the new rule would come into play. Still, there is concern from some players that the policy will both slow the game down and hit them in the pocket.

Coach Doug Pederson said his staff will stress the points of emphasis in the new rule during nightly meetings and on the practice field this summer and feels he has a handle on what is being asked by the league.

“It’s been well communicated to us, and it’s our job to communicate to our players these rules,” he said.

NFL

Bolts' Verrett tears Achilles in conditioning test

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Jason Verrett was diagnosed with a torn Achilles tendon on Friday.

Verrett was injured while running during a conditioning test Friday morning. The team said Verrett will undergo more testing on his Achilles on Saturday, but it is expected that he will miss the season.

The 27-year-old Verrett has dealt with the frustration of a left ACL injury suffered during a Week 3 contest in 2016 that never fully healed, requiring a second procedure in September of last year.

However, Verrett had worked without a brace this offseason and was fully cleared for the first time in nearly two years, with the hope of returning to Pro Bowl form in 2018.

Including the 2018 season, Verrett will have missed 55 of a possible 80 games in five seasons with the Chargers. He was a first-round pick out of TCU in 2014 and played in the Pro Bowl after the 2015 season.

Third-year pro Trevor Williams played well in place of Verrett last season and likely will be tasked with doing the same thing in 2018.

Verrett is in the final year of his rookie contract after the Chargers picked up his fifth-year option. He is scheduled to make $8.526 million in 2018.

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