NFL Player News

Villanueva joined the Ravens on a two-year, $14 million deal last offseason. He started all 17 games for the Ravens last year but Baltimore couldn’t justify bringing him back at his current cap number. The team was expected to release him if he didn’t retire. Villanueva took over as a starter in Pittsburgh during his rookie season and proceeded to start 90 consecutive games for them. He did not miss a single regular season game during his seven-year career. Villanueva also earned two Pro Bowl nods during his time with the Steelers.

The Raiders have an opening after firing Antonio Pierce, the team’s second head coach in two seasons. Monken has already had interview requests from the Jaguars and Bears after helping the Ravens to one of the best offenses in the league. The Raiders are still figuring out their quarterback situation with Aidan O’Connell, Gardner Minshew, and company, but Monken would add depth to the team’s stagnant offense. Lions coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn have also been requested to interview, as well as Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo as the Raiders look to poach from the top teams in the league. Monken has a playoff run ahead of him with a potent Ravens offense and the Raiders hope to explore his high-scoring playbook for their head coaching job.

Flores adds the Jaguars to his list with the Bears and Jets already requesting interviews. He revamped the Vikings defense over the last two seasons and established it as a formidable unit for the playoffs. Previously serving as the Dolphins’ head coach from 2019-2021, Flores could look to return to Florida to coach Trevor Lawrence and company. The Jaguars had a disappointing 4-13 season in 2024 and have lined up several head coaching interviews to replace Doug Pederson after an underwhelming tenure. The 43-year-old Flores is slated to be a hot topic this coaching cycle.

Bethel made a living in the NFL off of his special teams abilities through 12 seasons. He only started 15 career games at defensive back, but was a three-time Pro Bowler for special teams on the Cardinals. Bethel spent the first six seasons of his career with Arizona and bounced around between the Falcons, Ravens, Patriots, and Dolphins for his final six seasons. He did not have a team for the 2024 season, making the Dolphins his last team after 17 games with them in 2023. Finishing his NFL career with 282 combined tackles, Bethel’s NFL legacy remains one of special teams utility.

Both Packers quarterbacks are evidently nursing throwing-arm injuries. Jordan Love (elbow) and Willis should be considered likely to play, given their early-week practice participation but this is officially a situation to monitor closely.

The Chargers’ wide receiver corps is fairly banged up at this point and Palmer’s total inability to practice thus far this week makes him the least likely to suit up on Saturday. It could come down to a game-time decision but his Thursday availability should give us an idea of his status.

Johnston was only listed with the thigh ailment while participating in a limited capacity on Tuesday so the illness is a new, worrying development. While Johnston is likely to play through both issues, his Thursday practice participation should give us a better idea of his overall health. Practicing in full would be a great sign.

Fehoko has a chance to return from injured reserve this week. No. 2 WR Quentin Johnston (thigh/illness) and Joshua Palmer (heel) were both sidelined on Wednesday so Fehoko’s improvement comes at the right time. He could suit up as the Chargers’ No. 3 WR this week.

Brown has been getting days off or limited practice sessions for weeks as the team carefully manages his knee issue. It hasn’t been a problem for him lately and it likely won’t be on Sunday. Beat reporter Tim McManus reported Brown left practice early with a staffer and the team later told reporters that the early exit was pre-planned. The situation seems a tad unorthodox but we have no reason to expect Brown will be be limited by this issue at this time. Getting Week 18 off was a nice bonus for Brown, and many other Philly starters as well. Brown will remain an elite fantasy option when he takes the field to face Green Bay for the opening round of the playoffs on Sunday.

The rotational rusher is on track to face the Texans on Saturday. Fantasy managers should not rely on him to produce gaudy fantasy-point sums though chipping in a rushing touchdown in a run-heavy game script is not out of the question.

Hurts missed a meaningless Week 18 game because of the concussion. however, he didn’t practice at all last week, creating some minor concern that he wouldn’t clear the league’s concussion protocol in time for Philly’s Wild Card game. A limited practice to open the week puts him on track to suit up versus the Packers. All eyes will be on the Eagles’ next two practice reports in anticipation of a full practice for Hurts, but all signs point toward him playing. Kenny Pickett was also limited in practice as he continued to deal with a rib injury.