Injury idles Chancellor
Neck ailment puts Seahawks safety’s season in doubt.
Seattle strong safety Kam Chancellor will miss the Seahawks’ game Monday night against the Falcons and his status for the rest of the season is in doubt because of a neck injury sustained last week.
Coach Pete Carroll said Chancellor and the team are still exploring their options regarding the injury and no decisions have been made about his status for the rest of the season.
NFL Network and ESPN reported that Chancellor is unlikely to return this season.
Chancellor spent much of the last week away from the team meeting with doctors to determine the severity of the injury and possible courses of action.
“We’re still looking at what our options are and we’ll continue to do that and evaluate what’s going on,” Carroll said. “We’re working very closely with him on that. That’s it.”
Chancellor is the second member of Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” secondary to lose time because of injuries sustained against the Cardinals. Cornerback Richard Sherman was lost for the season to a torn Achilles tendon and had surgery this week.
Seattle will get free safety Earl Thomas back for Monday’s game and Bradley McDougald will slide over to replace Chancellor.
Broncos: General manager John Elway defended his embattled rookie head coach and his staff Friday night while laying the blame for Denver’s five-game skid squarely on the shoulders of his underachieving players.
“At the end of the year we’ll evaluate it and we’ll look back and see what happened. But I will tell you, I think we got a little bit soft,” Elway said. “We went 4-0 in the preseason, we started out 3-1, then we get a bye week and if you exhale in this league, you’re in trouble.”
Elway said he hasn’t lost faith in Vance Joseph, who brought a single season’s experience as a coordinator to Denver when he replaced Gary Kubiak a year after the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 win.
“You know there’s going to be growing pains in the head coach and especially the first-time head coach,” Elway said, adding that Joe Woods on defense and Brock Olivo on special teams are both first-time coordinators.
Meantime, the Broncos waived third-year tight end A.J. Derby with a shoulder injury. Derby, acquired from New England in a trade last year, led Denver tight ends with 19 catches for 224 yards and two TDs this season.
Dolphins: Waived linebacker Rey Maualuga after he was arrested on a battery charge in Miami. The team announced the move without comment on the legal situation, saying they were promoting running back De’Veon Smith from the practice squad to take Maualuga’s roster spot.
Court records in Miami Dade County show an open battery case against Maualuga, though no other information was listed.
Falcons: Running back Devonta Freeman will sit out Monday night’s game at Seattle while recovering from his second concussion of the season. Tevin Coleman will start in place of Freeman.
Jaguars: Activated rookie receiver Dede Westbrook and safety Calvin Pryor from injured reserve and promoted Larry Pinkard from the practice squad. To make room on the roster, the Jaguars waived defensive tackle Sheldon Day and receiver Jaelen Strong.
Ravens: Activated running back Danny Woodhead from injured reserve in time for today’s game at Green Bay.