The Browns have made a pair of changes to their 53-man roster, releasing running back Daryl Richardson from the squad and promoting linebacker Cam Johnson to fill the newly-created opening, according to a team release.

In addition to cutting Richardson and elevating Johnson to the active roster, the Browns have also waived defensive back De’Ante Saunders from their practice squad. Saunders was arrested last week along with Cleveland linebacker Armonty Bryant, and has pleaded not guilty after being charged with suspicion of drunken driving, writes Evan MacDonald of Cleveland.com.

Saunders may eventually face discipline from the NFL if the league determines he violated the personal conduct policy, but if he does have to serve a suspension, it seems it won’t be with the Browns. As for Richardson, he signed with Cleveland earlier this month, but didn’t see the field during his brief stint with the team — he was inactive for the two games he was on the 53-man roster, and will now return to waivers.

Speaking over the phone to Peter King of TheMMQB.com on Sunday, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning once again strongly denied allegations connecting him to HGH, which surfaced in an Al Jazeera documentary.

“I can promise you this is a total fabrication,” Manning said. “I simply do not understand how somebody makes up something like this and it becomes a story. And then the guy (Charles Sly) admits he made it up and it’s still a story. How exactly does that work?”

As King and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk both detail, one primary point of contention between Al Jazeera and Manning’s camp is the timeline for when Sly was employed at Indianapolis’s Guyer Institute, which allegedly sent HGH to Manning’s wife. Founder Dale Guyer insists that Sly was never an employee, and only served as an intern in 2013, well after Manning was treated at the facility. However, reporter Deborah Davies is adamant that a transcript of a phone conversation she had with the clinic reveals that Sly began working there in October 2011.

The uncertainty surrounding Sly’s time at the Guyer Institute isn’t the only item related to the report that’s worth passing along today. Here are a few more:

• As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, the NFL had no real jurisdiction over players during the four-month lockout in 2011, and didn’t even didn’t test for HGH until September 2014. As such, even if Manning or other players did use certain PEDs, they may not have violated any league policies.
• In a separate piece at Pro Football Talk, Florio wonders if Manning shouldn’t have simply gone the “no comment” route when these allegations surfaced, rather than extending the news cycle with his repeated, forceful denials. Florio also points out that Manning may not want to sue over the Al Jazeera report – as the quarterback suggested on Sunday that he might – since that process would mean making his private life public. For his part, Steelers linebacker James Harrison – who was also named in the report – said he looked into pursuing legal action, but decided it wouldn’t be worth it monetarily, tweets Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• Mike Klis of 9News (Twitter links) points out that Manning made his visits to the Guyer Institute accompanied by Colts medical people, making it unlikely that the alternative treatment he received there violated any laws or NFL policies.
• According to Jason Cole of Nerdy Football (video link), the NFL is getting pressured to take these allegations seriously and devote resources to investigating them. After all, the NFL dedicated significant time and energy to the Deflategate allegations, treating them with at least as much weight as PED allegations, so the league will face scrutiny if it doesn’t do the necessary legwork to look into the latest accusations.

Veteran safety Eric Weddle may have played his last game with the Chargers. After injuring his groin in the team’s Week 16 contest against the Raiders, Weddle is being placed on injured reserve by San Diego, ending his season, per Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Weddle, who will turn 31 next Monday, has been with the Chargers since being selected by the club in the second ronud of the 2007 draft. In his nine seasons with San Diego, he has appeared in 137 total regular season games (122 starts), earning three Pro Bowl berths and two All-Pro nods. The 2015 campaign was his first year without an interception — he has racked up 19 over the course of his career.

With Weddle’s contract set to expire, the Utah product appears likely to continue his NFL career with a team besides the Chargers. While he had some interest in engaging in extension discussions with San Diego earlier in the year, the team didn’t reciprocate that interest, prompting agent David Canter to suggest that his client would look forward to hitting free agency in the offseason. Unless the Chargers decide to use their franchise tag on Weddle, he looks like a good bet to reach the open market.

The Chargers will make a corresponding move to fill Weddle’s spot on the roster, but that transactions hasn’t been reported or announced yet.

The Colts are bringing in former Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman for a workout, according to Mike Freeman of Nerdy Football (Twitter link). Indianapolis may be in the market for a free agent QB, with most of the team’s in-house options battling some sort of injury.

The Colts’ still have an outside chance at earning a playoff berth, but several things would have to go right for the team, and that includes winning its Week 17 game against the Titans. With Andrew Luck having been on the shelf for a good chunk of the season, the club’s backup options are dwindling — Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Matt Hasselbeck has sustained a sprained AC joint, while Charlie Whitehurst suffered a hamstring injury. Despite having four quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, the Colts may only have one (Stephen Morris) who is healthy enough to play, and he has been with the team for just four days.

Freeman, who turns 28 next month, was Tampa Bay’s full-time starting quarterback from 2009 to 2012, but saw the wheels come off in 2013 and was cut by the Buccaneers. In his first four seasons, the former 17th overall pick completed 58.8% of his passes and tossed 78 touchdowns to go with 63 interceptions, as well as throwing for more than 4,000 yards in 2012.

Since a brief 2013 stint in Minnesota, however, Freeman has bounced around from team to team, unable to find a permanent NFL home. Most recently, he spent some time with the Dolphins this summer and then played for the FXFL’s Brooklyn Bolts in the fall.

Considering how long it has been since Freeman played in an NFL game, the Colts are unlikely to sign him with an eye toward having him play on Sunday. But if he impresses in his audition, perhaps Freeman could be added to the club’s roster as an emergency backup for Week 17 and a potential option for 2016.

Earlier this month, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com suggested that it’s not realistic to expect Browns general manager Ray Farmer and head coach Mike Pettine to both return to Cleveland next year. According to Rapoport’s report, the deteriorating relationship between the coaching staff and the front office made it “unfathomable” that the Browns would want to have Farmer and Pettine continue working together in 2016.

Today, Jason Cole of Nerdy Football (video link) explores that same line of thinking. Citing sources within the Browns organization, Cole reports that Farmer’s seat appears hotter than Pettine’s, with the head coach considered the more likely candidate to keep his job. Cole’s sources indicate that Farmer’s draft selections and roster decisions are more to blame for Cleveland’s struggles this season than the job Pettine has done with the talent – or lack thereof – he has been given.

While Cole doesn’t go so far as to say that the Browns will fire Farmer in January, it sounds like that’s a realistic possibility. If owner Jimmy Haslam does decide to replace Farmer, Cole expects Chris Ballard (Chiefs), George Paton (Vikings), and Duke Tobin (Bengals) to receive consideration for the job, since those executives are viewed by the NFL as some of the top general manager candidates around the league.

With one week until the NFL’s Black Monday, I’d imagine there are several scenarios still in play in Cleveland, but it sounds like any outcome that involves both Pettine and Farmer staying in their current roles is extremely unlikely.