NFL Player News

Ebukam had the game of his young career Monday night against the Chiefs. He became just the 11th player since AFL/NFL merger to return both a fumble and interception for a touchdown. Last year’s fourth-rounder, Ebukam also got a QB hit on Patrick Mahomes late to force a fourth-quarter interception for Marcus Peters. Teammate Aaron Donald was also deserving of the award.

Cooks has been limited in back-to-back practices to open the week. The team just opened his 21-day return window on Wednesday, so it’s hard to know whether or not they’ll activate him for Week 12’s game against the Commanders. Cooks isn’t returning from a serious injury but rather an infection that developed in his knee following a knee scope during this preseason. This could give him an increased chance at returning for Sunday’s game, but we’ll see what happens when Friday’s injury report is released.

Lamb wasn’t spotted during the media portion of Thursday’s practice, but the team officially listed him as a DNP later in the day. This immediately puts his Week 12 availability up in the air, as the Cowboys may think better of letting him play through multiple injuries in what is more or less a lost season. Lamb’s Week 12 outlook will be a bit more optimistic if he can get on the field Friday.

Mack was entirely unable to practice in Week 11 before ultimately being ruled inactive on game day. The Chargers still listed him as questionable to play in the lead-up though. Mack’s limited return to practice suggests he will face the Ravens in Week 12.

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said earlier in the week that Ferguson would be “hard-pressed” to play in Week 12 against the Commanders. Barring an unexpected turn of events, we’d expected Ferguson to be ruled out before the weekend, paving the way for Luke Schoonmaker to take his role as a viable tight end streamer after catching six passes for 56 yards on 10 targets in last week’s loss to the Texans.

McConkey landed hard on his right shoulder in Week 11 and was briefly taken to the blue medical tent so the fact that the Chargers opted to rest him for Week 12’s first practice is unsurprising. McConkey has an extra day to get right with the Chargers facing the Ravens on Monday night. Fantasy managers should tentatively expect McConkey to play this week.

As expected, LaPorta practiced in full for the second consecutive day. The Lions’ brilliant handling of his shoulder injury last week helped ready LaPorta for a full workload against the Colts’ paltry tight end-coverage unit. He is a locked-in TE1 for Week 12.

After being limited in his return to practice on Wednesday, Evans was upgraded to a full participant on Thursday and should be good to go for Week 12’s game against the Giants, barring any setbacks. The veteran receiver said earlier in the week that he “could have tried to push it” for the team’s Week 10 game against the 49ers, but it sounds like the extra time off has allowed him to be more than ready for a Week 12 return. Evans is trending in the right direction and could be off the injury report completely by Friday. He’ll be a solid WR2 in a plus matchup against the G-Men.

The Colts did the same thing with CB Kenny Moore II (knee), who was added to Thursday’s injury report despite practicing in full. Given both players’ full participation today, we do expect both Downs and Moore to suit up against the Lions on Sunday. It should be a pass-heavy environment.

Smith has missed both practices to start the week and is at serious risk of missing Week 12’s game against the Rams if he can’t get on the field in some capacity on Friday. He has been dealing with the same hamstring injury since the days leading up to Week 10’s game against the Cowboys, but things seem to have gotten worse as of late. This is the first time Smith has missed two practices as a result of the injury, making Friday’s practice all the more vital to his Week 12 availability. We’ll see where things go on Friday, but fantasy managers should get their backup plans in place now.

Brian Callahan was pessimistic when asked about Spears’ expected Week 12 availability and his concerns appear thoroughly warranted at this point. We expect Spears’ Thursday status to be confirmed as a DNP later this afternoon. Tony Pollard will be a volume-based RB2 against the Vikings’ elite run defense this weekend.