NFL Player News

The 37-year-old again led the Jets in carries on Sunday but suffered a season-ending lung contusion in-game. It’s possible this marks the end of Gore’s historic 16-year career, but we’ll believe that when we see it; there are some rumors he’s looking to play until his son, Frank Gore Jr., is eligible to declare for the NFL draft in 2023. Whatever the case, 2020 will close as Gore’s 16th consecutive season with 500-plus rushing yards and 125-plus rushing attempts (both NFL records), ultimately leaving him just 726 yards shy of second all-time behind Walter Payton (16,726) for the most rushing yards in league history. Gore, 38 in May, will likely already have decided to return for his 17th season before the clock turns another year.

Washington closed the year with his third and most exciting touchdown. He caught the ball near the end zone, had it knocked out of his hands, and then re-caught it mid-air as he fell into the paint. A solid Week 18 propelled him to a 32/390/3 receiving line on the year. Just like in 2023, Washington didn’t play much early in the season but stepped up after multiple Jacksonville wideouts went down with various injuries. Washington is under contract for two more seasons and will return as a depth piece in 2025.

The Bills were resting almost all of their starters, so it was Morris who got all the tight end snaps with both Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox on the bench. Morris figures to go back to his bench role for the postseason.

Schultz finishes the regular season never having more than five catches or 66 yards in a game. Given how banged up the Texans receiving corps has been, it’s kind of an indictment of either Schultz, Bobby Slowik, or both of them that he wasn’t more involved down the stretch. Schultz will remain touchdown-or-bust in Wild Card Round DFS and playoff best ball leagues.

Hollins was one of three active wide receivers for the Bills who didn’t play Khalil Shakir for any snaps on Sunday. Hollins was used early in the game but was on the bench for most of the second half. The veteran has been an important part of the receiving corps in Buffalo this season, operating as the team’s best blocking receiver and the ultimate “locker room guy.” He figures to play a decent amount of snaps in the playoffs given his intangibles and blocking prowess.

He fumbled one of them away. The Texans weren’t exactly throwing the ball downfield after being stacked to a 13-0 lead early in this one, but Woods is probably more of an “extension of the run game” player for this offense at this point. That he ends with that line despite 32 snaps speaks loudly about his fantasy value being low going forward.

This makes back-to-back disappointing seasons for Hyatt, who was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. The speedy receiver has caught just 31 passes for 435 scoreless yards in his first two years as a pro, struggling to find his footing in a Giants offense that is short on receiver talent outside of Malik Nabers. With Darius Slayton likely to depart in the offseason, a role could open up for Hyatt in 2025, but we wouldn’t hold our collective breaths. Both Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson should have solidified roles for next season, leaving Hyatt to compete with whoever else is brought in during the offseason.

Love left the game after taking a hit to the funny bone in the second quarter. The Packers, who were only playing for seeding, opted to have Love miss most of the rest of the game after getting stretched out on the sideline. We wouldn’t be stunned if Love wound up on the injury report this week, but it looks like the Packers have dodged a serious injury.

The Bills wanted to keep their rookie on the field in Week 18 since he missed five weeks due to injury just a short time ago. Coleman was targeted aggressively down the field by both Mitchell Trubisky and Mike White, but he was unable to win any of his jump balls. Some of that can be attributed to the inaccurate passes he was seeing from two backup quarterbacks, but Coleman was also going up against reserve cornerbacks and wasn’t able to win his contested catches. With a fully healthy receiving corps, Coleman should be operating behind Khalil Shakir, Amari Cooper, and Dalton Kincaid in the postseason, but the Bills will hope he can come down with some of those tough catches in the playoffs.

Watson suffered a non-contact injury to his right knee that sent him tumbling to the ground. He was eventually carted off the field and appeared to be in tears, leaving many to speculate the worst ahead of the Packers’ NFC Wild Card round. LaFleur clearly isn’t rushing to reveal the nature of Watson’s injury, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the worst was confirmed in the coming days. If Watson can’t go, Dontavyion Wicks would stand to see more work come playoff time.

Johnson saw some work as a passing-downs specialist, but his role waned in the back half of the season. He was even a healthy scratch for a few weeks before returning to the lineup in December. He finished the year with 239 yards on 44 touches. Johnson is a depth option on offense but also brings special teams expertise to the table. That should be enough to get him another one-year deal in free agency this spring.