NFC Notes: Kyler Murray, Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

Cardinals’ HC Kliff Kingsbury is still unwilling to rule out DE J.J. Watt yet, wanting to see how the shoulder surgery goes before saying the veteran will miss the season.

“I’m not sure on the exact timetable,” Kingsbury said, via CardsWire.com. “He’ll have surgery and then we’ll kind of take it from there.”

• According to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, the NFL fined Cardinals CB Byron Murphy $10,300 for taunting last week.
• Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported on Sunday’s pre-game show that Cardinals QB Kyler Murray has a “legit” ankle sprain. The injury tends to come with a one to three-week recovery timeline but the extra time to recover from playing on Thursday night could help Murray not miss time. 

Rams

Rams DC Raheem Morris said third-round LB Ernest Jones and LB Troy Reeder will be the replacements for LB Kenny Young, with LB Travin Howard also expected to play a role this week.

“We expect the guys to step up. We invested in Ernest Jones, we invested in Troy,”  Morris said Thursday, via RamsWire.com. “Those two players mainly will come on and step on and fill some of those shoes and fill those roles, but we’ve got some other players behind those guys, too, like a T-Howard that can give us some of the speed, some of the dynamic playmaking that we lost from Kenny that we can gain from those guys and all those guys together. You can never fill one player’s role with just one guy. It’s a collective development. Is (Jones) a starter in my head? Yes. But I don’t know if he’s going to be the opening-play starter. Just depends on the personnel group we go with. I’m fired up about watching him play. Sad to see Kenny go, sad to lose a guy like Kenny, but at the same time for Ernest, you’re fired up to see him go out and play to fill those roles and those shoes. I’ve been impressed with his constant development and going out there every single week and treating each week like he was going to be the starter whether he was or not. I’m really looking forward to him playing well and doing a nice job for us.”

• Rams’ HC Sean McVay said there have been trade conversations involving WR DeSean Jackson but had no update on the situation during his post-game comments. (Lindsey Thiry)

Seahawks

• NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reports Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf was fined $6,949 for unnecessary roughness last week, while TE Gerald Everett was fined $10,300  for unsportsmanlike conduct.