NFL Player News

Tennesse sent the Nos. 121 and 157 picks to the Jets to get this selection and pick No. 168. Hooker (5’11/210) turned pro as a true junior after starting for two seasons as a Hawkeye, logging 15 career pass breakups and six picks. He was voted Big Ten DB of the Year in 2018, earning PFF College’s No. 1 cornerback grade in the conference and allowing an anemic 55.8 passer rating when targeted. Hooker backed up his stock at the Combine with 81st-percentile SPARQ results, including 4.48 speed and a twitchy 6.81 three-cone time. A well-rounded safety with ample coverage and tackling skills, Hooker projects as an Adrian Amos-level starter in the pros.

It would be no surprise at all to see Sanders held out for a week or two after a scary collision that sent him to the hospital during Week 12’s game against the Chiefs. Sanders has been behind Tommy Tremble most of the year and would not be a particularly good fantasy football play even if he was able to get back on the practice field ahead of Week 13’s matchup with the Buccaneers.

He’ll be out until at least Week 18. Christian Haynes replaced Bradford, who has been a bit of a sieve this year, at guard. Bradford has 10 penalties and a 53.0 PFF pass block grade in 11 starts this season.

Will he throw today? Shanahan told reporters: “We’ll decide when we get out there.” Not exactly a comforting sentiment. We suspect Thursday and Friday’s updates will be more impactful as far as Purdy’s chances of playing through his shoulder soreness but a quarterback who isn’t throwing at practice doesn’t strike us as particularly likely to play. It could be the Brandon Allen show for another week.

Cool. The 2022 Texas-San Antonio UDFA will likely remain part of a committee on an offense that is untrustable for fantasy purposes. We’re glad Mr. Pierce is excited about something on this football team with six weeks remaining. McCormick had five carries for 33 yards last week.

As expected. O’Connell will be a bottom-basement superflex play against a solid Chiefs defense. He has just two touchdown throws in four games this year and has cleared 100 yards only once. It is a somewhat concerning development for Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers, though it’s possible the Norv Turner/Scott Turner Overdrive Hive Mind will be able to get better production out of O’Connell than Luke Getsy did.

That opens up his 21-day window to return. Brian Callahan told reporters that Awuzie will likely need to get back into football shape before he gets placed on the active roster. That reads like a quote about a player who won’t be active in Week 13. Perhaps Week 14 is a reasonable guess for an Awuzie return.

More importantly, he said it was not off the table in-season. Lawrence has stated that he would prefer to play the rest of the season, but the Jaguars don’t really have much reason to risk him given their 2-9 record. It would be stunningly bad management if the Jaguars managed to get Lawrence hurt worse than he already is playing out the string. Nevertheless, he is expected to practice today. Major developments in this story are more likely to come from an interview than from a practice report.

Not an auspicious start for a return for Smith, who watched the practice in street clothes. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane said that his “reporter sense” is that Smith still isn’t close to 100 percent. This may be shaping up to be another Dallas Goedert week against the Ravens.

His 21-day window opens now. A 355-pound run stuffer, Pierce’s return — should it be immediate — would be a consequential development for the Ravens ahead of Sunday afternoon’s matchup with Saquon Barkley and the Eagles. He is on the practice field today.

It’ll be Omenihu’s first game back from tearing his ACL in the Super Bowl. He’ll probably be managed on a snap count early on, but Omenihu’s juice off the edge should be big for the Chiefs in the playoffs.