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Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon is eligible to practice after he was removed from the non-football injury list. Gordon, who was away from the Browns for much of training camp while completing a health treatment program, is cleared to participate in all football activities but was a spectator during Saturday's afternoon drills because of tightness in his hamstrings.
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Cleveland coach Hue Jackson told reporters on Friday that Gordon will be eligible to practice but said his workload will be monitored.
"Josh Gordon will be at practice every day, but you are asking if he will be practicing. Probably -- again he is into the second phase of where I want him to be," said Jackson. "He'll definitely be involved in walk-throughs now. How much he does will be in proportion of what I see and where he is."
Gordon has missed the majority of the last three seasons because of suspensions related to violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy. He rejoined the team last weekend after taking time off to focus on a treatment program in Gainesville, Fla. He spent 90 days last summer and fall in an inpatient rehab facility in Gainesville.
-- New York Jets rookie Sam Darnold moved closer to securing the starting quarterback job after Friday's preseason game against the New York Giants.
Making his second straight preseason start, Darnold didn't put up overwhelming numbers: He finished 8 of 16 for 86 yards and a touchdown in the 22-16 loss to the Giants. However, he did lead two touchdown drives and did not commit any turnovers in the third installment of the Jets' quarterback competition that also features incumbent Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater.
"I'm not here to say that I've won the job or that I've lost the job," Darnold said after the game, per the New York Daily News. "I'm just going to continue to play consistent football ... continue to be a good leader for the team and really continue to be myself. At the end of the day, that's a coach's decision."
New York coach Todd Bowles did not reveal his plans for the regular-season opener, saying "we got two weeks to make that decision." However, Bowles said nothing to douse the belief that Darnold will be under center in Week 1.
"He'll progress from here until the day he retires," Bowles said. "He's done everything we're asking him to do. He's learning from mistakes. He's seeing things as he goes as a rookie quarterback. ... The more he plays, the quicker the football decisions come."
-- New York Giants tight end Evan Engram suffered a concussion in Friday's preseason game against the New York Jets.
Engram was hurt late in the first half of the Giants' 22-16 victory when he was sandwiched by two Jets defenders after a short completion. On Saturday, first-year Giants coach Pat Shurmur said Engram is in the concussion protocol.
The second-year tight end stayed on the field for a while but eventually walked to the sideline without assistance and went directly to the locker room. He had three catches for 23 yards before the injury.
The Giants also lost backup tight end Rhett Ellison to injury, but Ellison told the New York Daily News that he was poked in the eye. On Saturday, Shurmur said Ellison was diagnosed with migraines, which caused blurred vision.
-- Adrian Peterson wasted no time making an impression with his new team. Four days after he was signed by the Washington Redskins, he rushed for 56 yards on 11 carries in Friday's preseason game against the Denver Broncos.
"I saw a big guy running pretty hard really," Redskins coach Jay Gruden told reporters. "He had a five-yard average I believe, had a couple good bounces, and, you know, the thing I like about some of his runs is they look like they're like gains of ones and he'd fall forward for a gain of three. The first run of the day I thought it was a three-yard gain and he ends up second and three. I was impressed with Adrian and the way he ran."
It was Peterson's first game action since late November, when he suffered a neck injury and was placed on season-ending injured reserve by the Arizona Cardinals.
Despite the effort by Peterson, Gruden said Rob Kelley is expected to enter the season as his starting running back. He had 19 yards on eight carries against Denver.
-- Maliek Collins is on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list but in a radio interview Dallas Cowboys COO/executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones said he thinks the defensive tackle should be ready for the season opener against the Carolina Panthers.
Speaking on "The Ben and Skin Show" on 105.3 KRLD-FM in Dallas, Jones expressed optimism about Collins but added the number of snaps he sees could be monitored.
"At the end of the day, we do feel really good about Maliek being ready to play in that first game," Jones said. "We've still got a couple weeks here. And he's really doing well. Might be on a pitch count, but short of a set back here, we think we're going to have him available for Carolina."
Since joining the Cowboys as a third-round pick from Nebraska, Collins has totaled 45 tackles and 7 1/2 half sacks. He has yet to miss a game and started 30 of 32 regular-season games.
-- Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue celebrated a sack during Friday's preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings by emulating a comedy skit and on Saturday the league fined him $13,369.
Ngakoue did three pelvic thrusts, a move a sketch on the Comedy Central show "Key and Peele." In the skit, a rookie receiver named Hingle McCringleberry gets penalized for excessive celebrations for "three pumps" when the rule book states celebrations can only have two pumps.
"I did not know that would be a penalty, but you know, it is what it is," Ngakoue told reporters. "You learn from it, and you got to move forward."
Ngakoue, 23, is in the third year of a four-year, $3.48 million deal and will make $735,101 this season. Since entering the league as Jacksonville's third-round pick in 2016 out of Maryland, Ngakoue has 20 sacks, 10 forced fumbles and 53 tackles in 32 games (31 starts). He led the league with six forced fumbles last season.
-- Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton traded a possible concussion for a black eye when he landed hard on his helmet early in Friday's preseason game against the New England Patriots.
On the seventh play of Friday's 25-14 win and on a third-and-9, Newton scrambled and did a somersault to avoid a low tackle from a defender before getting tackled. His helmet slid over his left eye and gave him a black eye.
Newton fumbled, but running back Christian McCaffery recovered before three defenders could get the loose ball. Carolina wound getting 10 yards and a first down.
Newton briefly exited the game to get evaluated for a concussion and returned a few plays later.
"It wasn't no swelling by that time on the field," Newton told reporters. "I just kept telling them, 'My eye hurt, my eye hurts.' It was as if someone poked me in the eye. The helmet just came down. It didn't feel good."
-- The New England Patriots hardly looked ready for the regular season after a dull effort in Friday's preseason loss to the Carolina Panthers.
The Patriots managed just a field goal through the opening three quarters and did not get into the end zone until the final three minutes in the 25-14 loss to the Panthers.
New England coach Bill Belichick, who can be dour toward the media after the best of performances, didn't see much that he liked Friday night.
"The Panthers ... outplayed us across the board for four quarters," said Belichick in postgame remarks. "We have a lot of work to do, it really wasn't any part of the game that was very competitive. We just have to go back to work, and see if we can find a way to do a few things better that we did them tonight."
One positive was the play of wide receivers Phillip Dorsett (four receptions for 36 yards) and newcomer Cordarrelle Patterson (five catches for 37 yards).
-- Free-agent running back Terrance West was to visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday, the NFL Network reported.
West was released Tuesday by the New Orleans Saints but has a shot to fill a void for the Buccaneers, who put running back Charles Sims on injured reserve Thursday.
The 27-year-old West had seven carries for 36 yards during the preseason for New Orleans, highlighted by a 21-yard scamper last week against the Arizona Cardinals.
A five-year veteran who was the Cleveland Browns' third-round pick in 2014, West was traded the next year to the Baltimore Ravens, where he spent the last three seasons. He has 1,816 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns on 465 attempts in his NFL career, averaging 3.9 yards per carry. He also has 51 catches for 344 yards.
