Browns trade back Johnson to Texans
The Cleveland Browns traded disgruntled running back Duke Johnson to the Houston Texans yesterday for an undisclosed 2020 draft pick. A person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press that the Browns are getting a fourth-round pick that can become a third-rounder.
One of the NFL’s most versatile backs over the past four seasons, Johnson had grown unhappy with his role and asked to be traded earlier this year after the Browns signed suspended free agent running back Kareem Hunt, who will sit out the season’s first eight games.
Quinn suspended
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Robert Quinn has been suspended for the first two games of the regular season for violating the NFL’s ban on performance enhancers.
Quinn was acquired in a trade with Miami in the offseason. The league said the ninth-year player is eligible to practice and play in preseason games, but he is out until the regular season after breaking his left hand in practice at training camp.
Agent Sean Kiernan said Quinn takes medication to control seizures. The agent said it is believed Quinn’s medication was contaminated with probenecid when a prescription was filled at a pharmacy. Probenecid was used as a masking agent for steroids in the 1980s and ’90s, Kiernan said, but is used now as a prescription drug to treat gout. Kiernan said records showed that a prescription for probenecid was filled before Quinn’s prescription at the pharmacy he uses.
Silberman ailing
Indianapolis Colts backup offensive lineman Ian Silberman was transported to a Buffalo-area hospital for precautionary reasons because of what the team is calling an abdominal medical issue.
The Colts said Silberman, who played at Boston College, was taken to the hospital before their preseason opener against the Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. The team had no other details on the player’s status.
Silberman has bounced around the NFL since being drafted by San Francisco in the sixth round of the 2015 draft.
He returned to the Colts for a second stint after signing with the team last week . ...
Eagles backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld left the sideline on a cart after injuring his left arm on a late hit in the second quarter of Philadelphia’s home game against Tennessee.
Sudfeld fell backward after a personal foul by Isaiah Mack and immediately went to the sideline. He was wearing an air cast on the cart ride to the locker room. Cody Kessler replaced him and took a late hit from Nigel Harris on his first play.
Sudfeld started instead of
Carson Wentz as Eagles coach
Doug Pederson gave almost all of his healthy starters a night off. Sudfeld threw a 75yard touchdown pass to former UMass wide receiver
Marken Michel — brother of the Patriots’ Sony Michel — and finished 10-of-18 for 177 yards.
Saints wave flag
The New Orleans Saints have joined the NFL in opposing a fan’s lawsuit seeking damages over the missed penalty that helped the Los Angeles Rams beat the Saints in a January playoff game and move on to the Super Bowl.
The lawsuit by attorney and self-proclaimed fan Anthony LeMon resulted in a state judge’s recent order that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and three game officials submit to questions in September. The league appealed Wednesday night to the Louisiana Supreme Court. And attorneys for the Saints filed an accompanying brief supporting the league.
At issue is officials’ failure to call a roughness or pass interference penalty on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman for his helmet-to-helmet hit on receiver Tommylee Lewis well before a pass arrived during the NFC Championship game. The Rams won that game and advanced to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Patriots.
Fins add Nkemdiche
Defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche signed with the Miami Dolphins two weeks after the Arizona Cardinals released their 2016 firstround draft pick . ...
The Kansas City Chiefs agreed to terms with cornerback Morris Claiborne on a one-year deal to fortify a thin and unproven backfield.