Broncos’ Riddick out with shoulder fracture
Denver Broncos running back Theo Riddick will be out six to eight weeks with a slight shoulder fracture, according to a report Sunday.
Mike Kils of 9News in Denver said Riddick sustained the injury Thursday night in the Broncos’ pre-season game against the Seattle Seahawks.
He said surgery won’t be required.
Starting fullback Andy Janovich also is expected to miss six to eight weeks after suffering a partially torn pec muscle Thursday in Seattle.
Both players likely will be on the inactive list for at least the first two games of the regular season: Sept. 8 at Oakland and Sept. 15 against Chicago.
The Broncos signed Riddick, 28, to a one-year deal for US$2.5 million, with $1 million guaranteed, just a week ago after the Detroit Lions released him. In 84 career games, Riddick has rushed 288 times for 1,023 yards with 285 catches for 2,238 yards. He has scored 19 touchdowns.
The New York Jets were forced to find a replacement on Sunday after kicker Chandler Catanzaro announced his retirement.
The 28-year-old Catanzaro missed two of three extra-point tries in the Jets’ pre-season opener on Thursday.
Catanzaro was the only kicker in camp, so the Jets signed free-agent Taylor Bertolet after a tryout on Saturday.
Bertolet was with the Jets during training camp last year, but has yet to play in a regular-season game.
He most recently played for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football. With Salt Lake, he made nine of his 14 field goal attempts, including four of seven from 50 yards or more.
Catanzaro leaves the NFL having made 83.8 per cent of his career field goal attempts and 92.9 per cent of his extra point tries.
The Cleveland Browns signed tight end Rico Gathers on Sunday and released tight end/fullback Orson Charles.
The Dallas Cowboys, who selected Gathers in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, waived him earlier this week.
Gathers played college basketball at Baylor and the Cowboys drafted him in hopes he’d become the next Antonio Gates, who turned into an all-pro with the Chargers franchise after a basketball career at Kent State.
But in three years in Dallas, Gathers caught just three passes for 45 yards.
If he makes the final roster in Cleveland, Gathers must serve a one-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. The Baltimore Ravens traded kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The Ravens said they are receiving an “undisclosed draft pick” in exchange. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported it was a 2020 fifth-round pick.
Baltimore already has Justin Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history.