Bears QB Cutler facing season-ending surgery
Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler will have surgery to repair his torn labrum in his throwing shoulder on Saturday and will be placed on injured reserve, coach John Fox announced on Thursday.
Fox wasn’t interested in addressing whether Cutler has played his last snap in Chicago, however.
“The offseason’s the offseason. We’re not there yet,” Fox said.
Cutler sustained the injury in a 22-16 loss to the New York Giants in Week 11. The 33-year-old was sacked four times and threw an interception while finishing the game, but sat out last week’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Matt Barkley made his first career start versus the Titans, completing 28 of 54 passes for 316 yards and three touchdowns. The fourth-year quarterback also threw two interceptions.
Cutler missed five games with a right thumb injury earlier in the season. He’s thrown for 1,059 yards while completing 59.1 percent of his passes, with four touchdown passes and five interceptions over five games in 2016.
This is the third season-ending injury for a Chicago quarterback in 2016 after primary backup Brian Hoyer broke his left arm and third-stringer Connor Shaw broke his leg during the preseason.
Jets activate Perreault
The Winnipeg Jets activated forward Mathieu Perreault from Injured Reserve, the team announced Thursday.
Perreault, 28, missed the last 14 games with an upper-body injury.
He has one goal and two assists in 11 games this season. Last season, Perreault collected nine goals and 32 assists for the Jets.
He signed with Winnipeg as a free agent prior to the 2014-15 season.
Pirates actively shopping McCutchen for prospects
The Pittsburgh Pirates are actively trying to trade former National League MVP and center fielder Andrew McCutchen for top prospects, according to multiple reports.
McCutchen, 30, is under contract for $14 million in 2017 and has a $14.5 million club option for the 2018 campaign.
The five-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger Award-winner played his first eight seasons with the Pirates, batting .292 with 175 home runs, 637 RBIs and 160 stolen bases over 1,190 games.
McCutchen won the NL MVP in 2013 after hitting .317 with 21 homers, 84 RBIs and 27 steals in 157 games. In 2016, he hit a career-worst .256 with 24 homers, 79 RBIs and a personal-low six steals in 153 games.
Starling Castro would reportedly move from left field to center if the Pirates trade McCutchen.
WR Watkins back at practice for Bills
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins returned to practice on Thursday after experiencing soreness in his foot.
Coach Rex Ryan said Watkins “looked good” and expects the star wideout to play for the Bills (6-5) in their road game against the AFC West-leading Oakland Raiders (9-2) on Sunday.
Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn told reporters that “last I heard, he has a broken bone in his foot” and questioned “whether he’s gonna play one play or 20 plays.”
Watkins sustained the injury in Week 2 and made three catches for 80 yards in his return against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week.
While Ryan was optimistic about Watkins, he said it “doesn’t look good” for wideouts Percy Harvin (illness) and Robert Woods (knee). Both missed Thursday’s practice.
Fellow wide receiver Marquise Goodwin injured his wrist late in Thursday’s practice and did not finish the session.
The Bills likely would turn to Justin Hunter and/or Brandon Tate should injuries force their hand on Sunday.
Coyotes to activate G Domingue
The Arizona Coyotes will activate goaltender Louis Domingue off injured reserve for Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Domingue, who was sidelined with a lower-body injury since Nov. 23, will serve as the backup for Mike Smith against Los Angeles.
Domingue is 4-8-1 with a 3.21 goals-against average this season and saw the bulk of the starts while Smith was sidelined with an injury.
To clear a roster spot for Domingue, Arizona assigned goalie Justin Peters to the Tucson Roadrunners, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate.
Peters, 30, played in three games with the Coyotes and posted a 0-1-0 record with a 3.16 GAA and a .900 save percentage. Peters stopped 38 shots in his lone game with Tucson this season.