The Sports Xchange

The NFL on Tuesday suspended San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerome Simpson for the first six games of the upcoming season.

The league released a statement to announce the suspension saying Simpson violated the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse. He will be eligible to return Oct. 19.

The league’s move did not catch the 49ers by surprise.

“The probability of a suspension was known when we signed Jerome,” the 49ers said in a statement.

Simpson has been arrested three times since January 2012 including in July 2014 when he was cited on misdemeanor charges of having marijuana and an open bottle of alcohol in his car while driving with a restricted driver’s license. He was suspended for the first three games of the 2014 season.

The current suspension presumably is related to last year’s incident.

—Kansas City Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher will miss two to three weeks with a high ankle sprain.

Fisher had an MRI exam on Monday after being carted off the field. The Chiefs already lost right tackle James Allen (knee) to injury this preseason.

Donald Stephenson will step in for Fisher, the No. 1 overall pick in 2013 who was second on the team in total snaps last season.

—Long snapper Nate Boyer was released by the Seattle Seahawks.

The Seahawks are parting with the former Green Beret to make room for quarterback Jake Waters.

Boyer, 34, taught himself to be a long snapper while deployed overseas and then walked on at the University of Texas at age 29 and became a three-year starter. He signed with the Seahawks following the 2015 draft.

—Backup tight end Asante Cleveland was traded from the San Francisco 49ers to the New England Patriots for offensive guard Jordan Devey.

Cleveland would be the sixth tight end on the 90-man roster for the Patriots.

Devey, 27, played guard and tackle at Memphis and was on the practice squad of the Ravens and Patriots the past two seasons.

—New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did not participate in practice, but he apparently has scrapped plans to attend Wednesday’s hearing in New York regarding his appeal of his four-game suspension from Deflategate.

Brady originally had planned to miss another day of practice and attend the hearing. But when Tuesday’s proceedings brought no movement in a possible settlement between Brady and the NFL, Brady decided he would return to practice with the Patriots on Wednesday.

Brady had missed last Tuesday’s practice before attending settlement hearings in New York District Court on August 12. So the suspicion was that he would do the same this time and attend Wednesday’s hearing to show the court how important the matter was to him.

—The Buffalo Bills placed linebacker Ty Powell and defensive end Jarius Wynn on injured reserve and released defensive end Erik Williams, filling their roster spots with outside linebacker Quentin Groves and running back Samuel Seale.

Groves was a second-round pick in 2008 out of Auburn and has 32 starts in 100 career games with the Jaguars, Cardinals, Browns, Titans and Raiders.

Seale, undrafted out of Stanford in 2015, went to rookie minicamp with the Chiefs.

—As quarterback contract figures rolled in this offseason, from Ben Roethlisberger to Russell Wilson and Cam Newton to Philip Rivers, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was an invested observer.

Manning is in the final year of his contract and early negotiations are ongoing this week as Rivers inked a deal that will pay him $65 million over the next three years, the highest total in the NFL for the 2015-17 seasons.

Manning is reportedly looking to cash in with a deal that trumps the five-year, $99 million pact Roethlisberger got in Pittsburgh and Rivers’ four-year extension with $83.25 million in new money. Manning was the first player selected in the 2004 draft, which also included those two peers.

“It’s just never been something I really put a lot of thought into. I believe it will work itself out,” Manning said Monday.

—Rookie wide receiver Breshad Perriman underwent an MRI exam on Monday, the start of his third week of missed practice with the Baltimore Ravens, and the test revealed no new damage.

While the team remains optimistic Perriman could still return any time, the 2015 first-round pick was a point of frustration for coach John Harbaugh, who has maintained patience despite missed practice time.

Perriman was expected to compete for a starting role but injuries have prevented him from getting reps with starting quarterback Joe Flacco.

—Undrafted rookie free agent wide receiver Jarrod West signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

West, who originally signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2015, played collegiately at Syracuse and had 134 receptions for 1,838 yards.

To make room for West, the team released former Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd.

–Undrafted free agent wide receiver L.T. Smith signed with the Indianapolis Colts.

To make room on the roster, the Colts waived wide receiver Tyler Rutenbeck.

Smith played in 48 games at Akron and recorded 117 receptions for 1,426 yards and nine touchdowns.

—The Arizona Cardinals signed safety Anthony Walters and waived injured linebacker Zack Wagenmann.

Walters has played in 37 games since being signed as a free agent by the Chicago Bears in 2011. He played in four games with the Bears last season.

Wagenmann, out of Montana, suffered a broken foot for the second time in four months and faces yet another surgery.

—The Oakland Raiders signed free agent wide receiver Devon Wylie.

Wylie was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round of the 2012 draft. He appeared in six games during his rookie campaign, recording six receptions for 53 yards.

To make room on the roster, the Raiders waived wide receiver Austin Willis.