Jets place RG Brian Winters on IR, promote DL Deon Simon
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) - Brian Winters is being shut down for the New York Jets' season finale.
The starting right guard was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday with an abdominal injury that he has been dealing with for most of the season.
New York promoted defensive lineman Deon Simon from the practice squad to take Winters' place on the active roster. The Jets also announced that they signed defensive lineman Francis Kallon to the practice squad.
Winters was injured in the second game of the season at Oakland and was sidelined the next week against Miami. He played through the injury the rest of the season until being scratched from New York's game against the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday.
Winters was replaced in that game by Dakota Dozier, who will likely do so again Sunday at New England.
Winters started 13 games at right guard for the Jets, who drafted him in the third round in 2013 out of Kent State. He will finish the season on IR for the second straight year, and the third time in four years. Last year, Winters sat out the final two games with a torn rotator cuff. He was signed to a four-year contract extension in the offseason.
Winters was limited to just six games in 2014 because of a torn knee ligament.
Simon, a seventh-round pick out of Northwestern State in 2015, was among the Jets' final cuts out of training camp and then signed to the practice squad. He played in every game last season, finishing with 23 tackles and 1ˆ½ sacks.
Kallon was signed by Pittsburgh as an undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech and was one of the Steelers' last cuts. He was most recently on Green Bay's practice squad.
NOTES: DE Leonard Williams (lower back), RT Brandon Shell (concussion), WR Robby Anderson (illness), RB Matt Forte (knee), TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins (ribs and foot), CB Morris Claiborne (foot) and WR Jermaine Kearse (ankle) all did not practice. ... LB Jordan Jenkins was limited with ankle and shoulder ailments.
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