NFL Player News

An accomplished high school basketball player, Smith (6’3/254) played football in his youth but quit because of concussion issues. He was coaxed back onto the field as a high school junior, and the decision paid immediate dividends. Injuries limited Smith’s availability throughout his career, starting just 17-of-41 games. However, he stayed healthy enough this season to log 10 starts, 26 tackles, five TFLs, three sacks, and a forced fumble while being named second-team All-Big Ten. He tested well enough, excelling in the agility drills with a 91st-percentile 4.24 shuttle and 87th-percentile 7.06 three cone, good enough for a 7.15 overall relative athletic score. Smith was productive when he was on the field, posting a respectable 8.5 percent pressure rate in 2021, but he only logged 377 total snaps last year and under 200 in each of his previous three seasons. Smith has the athleticism to hang at the NFL level, but he has major technical flaws that have to be cleaned up if he’s going to make it.

No surprises here. Forbes has continued to be inactive since being claimed off waivers a month ago.

The Jets’ defensive line is already banged up, so losing Williams in the interior of that line is a big loss. Expect the Rams to try to exploit that with Kyren Williams early and often.

Things were trending in this direction after Tillman failed to log a full practice during the week and was listed as questionable heading into the weekend. Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore will remain the top two receivers for the Browns for at least one more week, but they will also have tight end David Njoku back on the field after he missed Week 15 due to a hamstring injury. All pass-catchers for the Browns will get downgrade with DTR under center and Jameis Winston listed as the team’s QB3.

Pierce was declared out on Friday due to a concussion he suffered in Week 15. Fellow WR Ashton Dulin (ankle) is active and in line for increased snaps with Pierce out. TE Mo Alie-Cox (hip) and K Matt Gay (neck) are also active while LB EJ Speed (knee) is the Colts’ other injury inactive.

Johnson was a late addition to the injury report because of the illness, though he never appeared to be at much risk of missing this game. The stud corner will do his best to slow a red-hot Lions offense this week. Johnson has seven pass breakups and two interceptions this year.

After being listed as questionable heading into the weekend, Coker is officially active and profiles as a boom-or-bust WR5. He posted a solid 4-110-1 line on six targets in last week’s loss to the Panthers. While Coker is active, Xavier Legette was declared inactive, although that announcement was handed down before the weekend. The Panthers also declared S Jordan Fuller, CB Shemar Bartholomew, WR Velus Jones Jr., CB Akayleb Evans, C Cade Mays, and OL Brandon Walton inactive.

Benson and Johnson were both ruled out before the weekend, meaning DeeJay Dallas will likely serve as the RB2 behind James Conner. There’s no fantasy upside in this backfield outside of Conner, who profiles as a solid RB1 for the week.

As is left tackle Braxton Jones, who had nearly cleared the league’s concussion protocol on Friday but was assigned a questionable tag. With both linemen active, the Bears avoided a nightmare scenario for their struggling rookie quarterback.

Pollard did not practice this week as he deals with an ankle injury he suffered a couple of weeks ago. He played through the same injury in Week 15, rushing 17 times for 45 yards. Fantasy managers can expect Pollard to still lead the Titans backfield in carries, but Tyjae Spears will see increased involvement, especially in the passing game after a six-catch, 87-yard outing in Week 15. Pollard is in the low-end RB2 mix while Spears has some standalone FLEX value for Week 16 against the Colts.

Brown continues to deal with the same injury that has kept him on the sidelines in six of the team’s last seven games. He was questionable heading into this one, meaning there’s a chance he could suit up for Week 17 against the Broncos, but we’ll see how things go throughout the week. In addition to Brown, the Bengals also declared QB Logan Woodside, WR Charlie Jones, TE Tanner Hudson, DE Sam Hubbard, and DE Sheldon Rankins inactive.