NFL Notes: Eagles, Patriots, Saints & Texans

Eagles

• Jimmy Kempski wonders if the Eagles’ decision to sign veteran LB Stephen Tulloch could lead to the Mychal Kendricks “heading to the bench.”

Patriots

• According to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, several veterans have just two preseason games and six or seven practices to secure spots on the Patriots’ roster.
• This group consists of RB Donald Brown, TE Clay Harbor, WR Keshawn Martin, DT Terrance Knighton and DT Markus Kuhn.
• In regards to the report that the Patriots could place RT Sebastian Vollmer on injured reserve, Howe mentions that this would only make sense if they wanted to reach an injury settlement and release him. Otherwise, Howe believes it makes more sense to put him on the PUP list.

Saints

• Mike Triplett of ESPN writes that Saints RB/KR Marcus Murphy and WR Brandon Coleman could both be losing their grip on roster spots.

Texans

Texans HC Bill O’Brien said DE J.J. Watt is progressing from his back surgery and was not able to give a definite timetable for his return.

“J.J. Watt obviously will not be back this week, but he’s making a lot of progress in his rehab,” said O’Brien, via the Houston Chronicle. “I just don’t think anybody can predict when J.J. will be back. I would say knowing J.J. the way I do that he’ll be back sooner rather than later. It’s progressing really well. He’s been able to do some things on the Ultra-G treadmill, which is a really good sign. 

However, O’Brien went on to say that he “feels good” about where Watt is with his recovery in relation to the start of the regular season.

“As you guys would expect, J.J. is really wanting to do a lot more and doing a good job of following the doctors’ orders. We feel good about where he’s at relative to the beginning of the season.”