NFL Player News

Firkser had a career-low 8.6 yards per reception last season, and has scored five touchdowns in 106 career targets. Kyle Pitts will be the No. 1 tight end for Atlanta next season, leaving Firkser to work in two tight end sets unless Arthur Smith gets creative with Pitts out wide. There won’t be much fantasy juice to squeeze, but Firkser should be a decent real-life option for a Falcons team that doesn’t have many capable wideouts.

Tucker for the first time in his 13-year NFL career is struggling mightily to put the ball between the uprights. He’s missed six of his 22 field goal tries in 2024, including two in Baltimore’s Week 11 loss to the Steelers. “You have to find that competition first if you’re going to be blunt about it. Where is that competition? That would be one thing,” Harbaugh said when asked if the team would consider benching Tucker. “The best option right now is to get Justin back on point, because he’s fully capable of doing it. (We) certainly haven’t lost any confidence in Justin Tucker.” Tuckers’ struggles from distance stretch back to 2023. Over the past two seasons, he’s made just four of 12 field goals of more than 50 yards. Continued struggles for Tucker could force Harbaugh to give some thought to a kicker change as the Ravens head toward the playoffs.

Rosenblatt and Russini report now-fired general manager Joe Douglas “had already lost some power midway through last season when Johnson took a more active role”. After a Week 4 loss to the Broncos, Johnson “suggested to coaches that they bench Aaron Rodgers”. A week later, he made the decision to fire head coach Robert Saleh “without consulting his general manager”. Johnson also made decisions on player signings and front office firings over the offseason, decreasing Douglas’ power as general manager and pressuring certain decisions, like nixing a trade for Jerry Jeudy and a contract extension for Bryce Hall. Douglas has now been fired as the Jets will hit reset in the offseason. Johnson returned to run the Jets in 2021, after serving as the United States’ Ambassador to the United Kingdom - his brother ran the team when the Jets hired Douglas in 2019.

Colbert has not played in a regular season game since 2022, when he appeared in two games for the Bears. The 31-year-old has spent parts of the last seven years with the 49ers, Dolphins, Giants, Jets, Browns, and Bears. He has been in and out of Chicago over the last two season and now returns as the Bears add depth to their secondary.

Highsmith missed Week 11 against the Ravens and has been out since Week 10 due to an ankle injury. Mike Tomlin said last week that Highsmith would be week-to-week and he has not been placed on injured reserve. He has three sacks in six games this season, grading out as one of the Steelers’ best pass-rushers. With back-to-back DNPs to begin the week, expect Highsmith to miss Thursday’s Week 12 game against the Browns, though the mini-bye may allow him to recover enough for Week 13.

Cooks has not played since Week 4 and has little fantasy value to offer in a Cooper Rush-driven offense. The 31-year-old has not been activated off injured reserve yet. Even deep leagues probably have to look at the idea of him providing fantasy value skeptically at this point.

Desperate PPR-scam desirers at tight end can start with Luke Schoonmaker, who caught 6-of-10 targets for 56 yards on Monday night. Dallas’ offensive ceiling is probably 20 points right now, but Schoonmaker has made the most of his opportunities when Ferguson has missed time this year, with 12 catches in two games against the Saints and Texans.

But there will also be a package of plays for Trey Lance. Ultimately this may make neither player superflex viable if they are splitting into each other’s time. Only truly desperate times would call for starting either player against a Commanders defense that is on the upswing in Week 12.

Bailey has been a special-teams-only player for Arizona this year. He’s mainly played as a depth linebacker for the Bengals on run downs in his NFL career after they drafted him with a seventh-round pick in 2020. Bailey will be eligible to return at the end of the season, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the Cardinals moved on given his sparse role for the team.

It’s the second waiver claim on Wilson in as many years, as the Patriots claimed him in the middle of last season from the Cardinals. Wilson has yet to deliver above a 61.2 PFF coverage grade in his four years in the NFL, but with DJ Turner (clavicle) down, the Bengals clearly needed depth at corner.

It’s a depth shuffling for New England, who put Curtis Jacobs (head) on injured reserve and waived Ochaun Mathis. Leo has no NFL snaps yet as a 2023 sixth-round pick for the Colts. He did have a 64.1 PFF preseason grade in 2023.