NFL Player News

A 2013 second-round pick of the 49ers, McDonald spent the last four years with the Steelers, starting 47-of-53 games. The 30-year-old finishes with a career 181/2,036/15 line over 101 appearances. McDonald’s retirement saves the Steelers $5.2 million in 2021 cap space.

This could just be a low-key thing, we certainly haven’t seen any of the 49ers beats make a big deal about it. But it’s something to monitor on the Wednesday practice circuit. Kittle hasn’t missed a game since Week 3 and already has seven touchdowns this season, more than he had in 16 healthy 2023 games.

It was, as usual, estimated. The ankle injury was a new listing on Monday, but it doesn’t seem like it’s all that serious. The team didn’t release an injury report until after Nick Sirianni had spoke on Monday, and only assistants spoke on Tuesday. It’s possible Goedert winds up questionable on Wednesday given the lack of context around this so far, but it’s hard to read what we’ve seen so far on the report as much of a signal for that.

It was estimated, as usual on Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s likely that Smith’s DNP on Monday was just a rest day for a hamstring that kept him on the injury report for most of last week before he had a forgettable 2/14 outing against the Cowboys in a game Philadelphia barely had to pass in. It seems much more likely he’ll be involved against the Commanders on Thursday night.

“The particular usage this past game was unique to the game plan and that’s kind of the case when you have one football and multiple talented running backs that all contribute in various ways. ... He’s still the leader of that room and we’ll be counting on him all season for us to get where we wanna go,” McDaniel said in full. Mostert should still be considered the No. 2 back going forward for the Dolphins. It’s just that the team’s offense has not been good enough to make that a particularly fantasy-appealing role right now.

Miami’s had problems with the spot opposite Jordyn Brooks at inside linebacker all season, with David Long Jr. posting a 27.4 PFF tackle grade and Anthony Walker being rough in coverage. It’s possible Dodson comes in and pushes for a starting job. We imagine they’ll probably give the in-house options another week or so while Dodson acclimates to the system, but taking on the remainder of Dodson’s base salary tells a story about how much they valued him.

Kendall Lamm stepped in for Jackson after he was placed on injured reserve prior to Week 10’s game against the Rams. Jackson finishes the year with a 64.3 PFF run block grade. He’s been mostly an average player at right tackle the last two years after starting his career as a sieve. Jackson has a $13.8 million cap figure next year and could save nearly $11.5 million if the Dolphins wanted to make him a post-June 1 cut. He’s still only 25, though, and unless the knee injury is more dire than we’ve seen reported so far, we’d expect him to come back as their right tackle in 2025. McDaniel said he expects Jackson to be ready for training camp in 2025.

It’s another estimation. Commanders coach Dan Quinn said he would “have a better idea tomorrow” if Robinson would play or not on Thursday night. We’re tentatively bracing for it to be another game-time decision. This is the eighth-straight limited practice for Robinson, who has not played either of the last two weeks despite participating in practice.

Mayer has not played since September. It’s possible he’ll be a bigger factor down the stretch with Davante Adams gone and the Raiders lacking for receiver help, but any Raiders passing game options outside of Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers are going to struggle for volume and reliability. Especially if this is about to become Desmond Ridder’s show.

Fuller was concussed in the win over the Rams on Monday night. McDaniel did not have a timeline for his return. Week 12 would appear to be his earliest possible return date, but a more serious concussion could have him out longer and McDaniel referenced that he was “concerned about [Fuller’s] well being” which sounds a little bit ominous.

Ryans was asked if not playing off the questionable tag meant that Collins had a setback in his injury recovery, and noted that it was simply a game-time decision. We’d be surprised if Collins wasn’t active this week, but wouldn’t be surprised to see him managed through practices as he eases into the grind after his hamstring injury. Aaron Wilson of NBC Houston claims Collins is “100 percent ready to go.”