First Call: Eagles teammates praise Kenny Pickett; Cleveland plays legal card to block Browns' stadium move

Tuesday’s “First Call” updates the injury status of former Steeler and Pitt Panther Kenny Pickett. Diontae Johnson discusses his latest stop in Houston. The city of Cleveland is jousting with the Browns over their stadium plans, and the Cincinnati Bengals are putting a high-priced free agent on injured reserve.

Gutting it out

Former Steeler Kenny Pickett got high praise from his Philadelphia Eagles teammates for trying to play through a rib injury Sunday.

Darius Slay confirms to us Kenny Pickett played through broken ribs today even before exiting the game

Slay compares Pickett's performance to what he saw from Matthew Stafford throughout his career and gives Pickett props for having the guts to play through that injury

— Ashlyn Sullivan (@ashlynrsullivan) December 29, 2024

Via ProFootballTalk, Pickett received two painkilling injections Sunday — one before the game and one at halftime.

After relieving Jalen Hurts last week in Washington, Pickett got a start as Philly squashed the Dallas Cowboys 41-7. Hurts was still dealing with a concussion.

The Pitt alum put up some decent numbers and had a few highlights. Pickett was 10 of 15 for 143 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran for a score.

However, during the loss to the Commanders the previous week, Pickett suffered a rib injury and had to leave the Dallas game after a hit from Micah Parsons. Third-stringer Tanner McKee had to finish the game. He did so, throwing two touchdowns.

Coach Nick Siriani said he is still unsure about whether or not he’ll play any of his starters or injured players in Week 18 against the New York Giants. That includes running back Saquon Barkley. The former Penn State Nittany Lion and ex-Giant enters this weekend with 2,005 rushing yards. He is 101 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season record.

At 13-3, the Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed in the playoffs as NFC East champions.

Modell motion

The city of Cleveland is pulling out all of the stops to make sure the Browns don’t leave downtown for the suburbs.

According to Fox 8, mayor Justin Bibb is invoking the Modell Law to prevent owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam from moving the team away from the Lake Erie shore and into a dome in Brook Park, which is 15 miles away.

The Modell Law is named after former owner Art Modell, who infamously moved the Browns to Baltimore in the mid-’90s. Barring certain provisions, it states, “No owner of a professional sports team that uses a tax-supported facility for most of its home games and receives financial assistance from the state or a political subdivision thereof shall cease playing most of its home games at the facility and begin playing most of its home games elsewhere.”

The law was passed in 1996. It was enacted by the Ohio General Assembly and signed by then-Gov. George Voinovich.

Fox 8 says that Bibb’s letter claims the Browns have not provided the city or others with the opportunity to purchase the team, as required by law. That’s needed before moving the team out of town.

Maybe the purpose of the law was originally to prevent moves out of the market by other Ohio sports teams, but it is now being applied to the strictest definitions of city limits themselves.

The city wants a response from the team by Jan. 9, or it will take legal action.

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Sheldon shelved

As the Cincinnati Bengals prepare for their trip to Pittsburgh for Saturday night’s game, they won’t be getting any help from Sheldon Rankins.

The defensive lineman has been officially placed on Reserve/Non-Football Illness list. That’s according to the Bengals’ website. He hasn’t played since Nov. 17. The free agent acquisition started seven games this season, totaling 18 tackles with one sack.

Via Spotrac, the former Texan, Jet and Saint signed a two-year, $24.5 million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, including $8 million guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $12.25 million.

For the record, cutting Rankins this offseason would save $9.5 million against the cap with $2M in dead money for the #Bengals.

Basically zero chance he returns next year.

Cincinnati signed Rankins to a two-year, $24.5M ($8M guaranteed) contract in March.

Rankins played 287…

— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) December 30, 2024

The Bengals allow 358 yards per game, sixth-worst in the NFL.

Hello Houston

After bouncing from the Steelers to the Carolina Panthers to the Baltimore Ravens this year, wide receiver Dionate Johnson is hoping to make things work with the Houston Texans. He signed there after being let go by the Ravens earlier this month for refusing to enter a Dec. 1 game against the Eagles. Up until that point, he had been used sparingly since joining the Ravens on Oct. 29.

Now, Johnson is trying to make things work on his fourth team of this calendar year.

New #Texans wide receiver Diontae Johnson said he's embracing fresh start and putting the past behind him from stint with #Ravens @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/KyLxEu0H8F

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 30, 2024

“I feel myself fitting in real well, knowing C.J. (Stroud) a little bit,” Johnson said, according to a post by Aaron Wilson of KPRC2. “Just to finally get here and be in the offense with him, it’s a blessing — just his talent that he brings to the game.”

Johnson has 31 catches for 363 yards and three touchdowns this year. Just one of those catches and 6 of those yards were in a Ravens uniform.

Houston decided to give Johnson a shot after an ugly knee injury sustained by Tank Dell on Dec. 21.