NFL Player News

The Panthers have opted to go with sixth-round pick Brad Nortman at punter. An 11-year veteran, Harris could resurface as a mid-season replacement. A teammate of Cam Newton’s at Auburn, Adams appeared in two games last season. He could be a candidate for the practice squad.

The Saints have continued to dance around the situation by calling Carr “week to week” but this is no minor injury and it would legitimately be surprising if Carr played again in the 2024 season. Nick Underhill reported that Spencer Rattler will get another start this week after coming off the bench and handily outperforming (a low bar) Jake Haener in Week 15.

Reinforcements are coming in Detroit after a rash of defensive injuries. Pittman has just two starts since signing with the Lions as a UDFA in 2019. He had a total of 152 defensive snaps for the Lions from 2019-2023. Now he’ll return as a depth piece and likely special teamer.

Eric Wilson was relied on heavily as Walker left last weekend’s game with the Seahawks with the ankle injury after only 22 snaps. It sure sounds like Wilson will be in there again on Sunday. Walker has been a solid run defender this year though his 48.8 PFF coverage grade creates some dissonance in calling him a true stalwart at linebacker for the Packers.

He stopped short of saying that Brown “would” play. There’s probably not much upside to Brown playing if Carson Wentz is going to be at quarterback, outside of perhaps knocking off some rust. If Brown does play in Week 16, he will likely be brought along slowly and thus be nothing more than a touchdown-or-bust fantasy start for deeper leagues to consider.

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski declined to name a Week 16 starter on Monday. It appears he’ll bench Jameis Winston after his disastrous Week 15 outing against the Chiefs in which he threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. Thompson-Robinson under center for Cleveland is a major blow to everyone in the Browns offense. Jerry Jeudy goes from borderline WR1 status to WR4 and David Njoku, fighting through a hamstring injury, will be barely usable in 12-team formats. The Bengals defense is very much in play with the inaccurate DRT starting for the Browns.

Though Mahomes is “built differently,” per Rapoport, and won’t miss the usual 4-6 weeks it takes to recover from a high ankle sprain, his Week 16 status is in doubt. That would mean Carson Wentz would get the nod for KC against the Texans. It would be a marked downgrade for Travis Kelce, DeAndre Hopkins, and the rest of the Chiefs pass catchers. The team will do everything in its power to have Mahomes ready to go for the postseason.

Hockenson is Minnesota’s man-beater, and the Bears rarely bothered getting out of zone coverage tonight so he didn’t have much to work with. He did break up a near-interception by playing defensive back on a ball over the middle from Sam Darnold that was bearing in on Kevin Byard’s hands. He also converted a third-and-15 with a 16-yard catch and added a five-yard DPI. He’ll remain a functional low-end TE1 in Week 16 against the Seahawks.

He added a 30-yard defensive pass interference penalty in the end zone that set up a Cam Akers score. Addison had scored six touchdowns in his last six games, but we’d argue nine targets is still a very strong signal for his rest-of-season involvement even if he didn’t quite land the knockout blow in this one. Addison will remain on the WR2 line against the Seahawks in Week 16.

Tucker fell victim to inadequate quarterback play from fill-in starter Desmond Ridder on a night Aidan O’Connell was held out due to injury. Furthering his struggles was a game environment in which both teams largely struggled to move the football while combining for just 277 yards through the air. Tucker’s next opportunity to return a usable fantasy score comes in Week 16 against the pass-funnel Jaguars.

His touchdown came as he ran a crosser in the back of the end zone and blew by a trail defender, it was one of the most open looks he’s had all season. Unfortunately Jefferson dropped another ball near the five-yard line that looked like it had scoring potential when he tried to turn and run with the ball before it got there. Jefferson took another Sam Darnold pass 17 yards to the one before Aaron Jones vultured the score. Jefferson will remain a high-end WR1 in Week 16, even with a draw against a stingy Seahawks pass defense.