NFL Notes: Broncos, Buccaneers, Lions, Packers

Broncos

• Broncos HC Vance Joseph said that DE Derek Wolfe is dealing with a neck injury and the team will avoid rushing him back into the lineup: “His overall health is more important than our next five games. We want to make sure he’s ready to play before we get him back on the field. It’s a neck injury, so that can be scary without knowing everything about it.” (James Palmer)

Buccaneers

• Ian Rapoport says that Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston should be recovered from his AC joint sprain in his shoulder after missing time since Week 9.
• Rapoport mentions that Winston has been dealing with the injury since Week 2, making this the most healthy he has been all season.

Lions

Lions HC Jim Caldwell altered Wednesday’s practice to help his team recover from their “slow start” tendencies.

“Just tempo,” said Lions WR Marvin Jones, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “Just faster tempo. (We’re doing) the same things, but just different periods will be moved and stuff like that so we can just (get going).”

Packers

Packers LB Clay Matthews said on Tuesday that he believes the team should have held off on putting QB Aaron Rodgers on injured reserve.

“This past week, being a part of that rehab group, to watch Aaron, what he’s been doing in there, I think we probably should have kept him off IR,” Matthews said, via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The way he’s coming along, some of the balls he’s throwing, accuracy-wise, everything a quarterback has to do, is pretty remarkable.”

Rodgers will be eligible to return from injured reserve in two weeks.

• Packers TE Lance Kendricks said that he was not cited for marijuana possession for his traffic stop in September, but was only given a warning for speeding: “I was actually given a warning for a speeding ticket. I wasn’t cited, and I wasn’t arrested. So everything else is not true.” (Ryan Wood)
• Though Kendricks indicated that he does not expect punishment from the NFL, he told the state trooper when being pulled over that he “smoked all he had“, while a small amount of marijuana was found in his glove box.