NFL Player News

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni apparently ceded play calling duties to Steichen at midseason in 2021 following the team’s immense struggles with a pass-first offense. Steichen implemented one of the run-heaviest offensive schemes in recent NFL history: Philadelphia had a league-low 45 percent pass rate over the season’s final nine weeks, running the ball on 67 percent of their plays while leading in the season’s second half. It’s a play calling formula that led to ample rushing opportunity for Jalen Hurts and whoever was the team’s lead back in a given week. It also slashed target volume for every pass catcher besides Dallas Goedert. Sirianni in December told reporters he was sharing play calling duties with Steichen. “Shane calls it in, but we discuss what that flow will be before each one, and then Shane rolls with that series of five plays and … it can be different each series I guess is what I’m saying,” Sirianni said. “Sometimes Shane is going to roll with those five or six plays that we talked about, and sometimes Shane is a going to call it in the order we talked about, and then I’m going to tell him, ‘No, I want this here.’” The addition of A.J. Brown this offseason could portend a slightly pass-heavier approach, though fantasy gamers should assume the Eagles will be among the three or four most run-committed teams in 2022.

It will be interesting to see what the Eagles do at wide receiver considering DeVonta Smith is listed as questionable with his own hamstring injury. Now down Wilson, expect Jahan Dotson to see a more robust role in the offense regardless of the status of Smith on game day.

Conner was set to hit free agency after the season, but Arizona decided to lock him up before it came to that. The 29-year-old running back is 15th in scrimmage yards with 993 in 11 games so far this season. While it’s unclear how much of Conner’s deal is guaranteed, it’s unlikely that the extension for the two-time pro bowler will cause significant salary cap issues for Arizona in the future. This extension seals last year’s third round pick Trey Benson’s fate as purely a handcuff for at least another year.

Williams’ signing follows an Ian Rapoport report indicating Lions DE Josh Paschal “may miss some time” following an MRI on his injured knee. Williams has tallied 32 quarterback pressures and 2.5 NFL sacks since entering the league as a 2020 undrafted free agent.

Watson, additionally, had a brutal deep drop that likely would have been a score in the game’s opening three plays. He beat out Juju Smith-Schuster as the fifth option in the passing game today, but the lesson with the Chiefs right now is that they are going to spread the ball around. Watson will be a deep-leagues only play in Week 14, as he is every week.

He almost did it. Worthy managed a completely normal-looking 5/54/0 line on six targets where he was just a normal wideout with no hints of disappointment. He even caught a ball off the turf that was overturned in his favor by replay. But the Chiefs went for the jugular at the two-minute warning, sent Worthy deep, and the classic 2024 Worthy tale of an incomplete deep pass played yet again for us all. Worthy is a WR4 option in Week 14, but not one we’re particularly excited about against the Chargers.

Had Patrick Mahomes led Gray a little less on a deep target in the first quarter, this could have been a 5/~90/1 line. Alas. Gray has worked as a main offensive cog for most of the last three weeks and will be a borderline TE1 in Week 14 against the Chargers.

He had an uncharacteristic drop over the middle, and only managed three red-zone targets in the contest. One of them, though, he was open on a cover-zero look from the Raiders and Patrick Mahomes simply placed it to the opposite shoulder of what Kelce was looking for. Rough. He’ll be a realistic TE1 against the Chargers in Week 14 but this offense is struggling enough that it is hard to call him much more than that.

He added two long DPI penalties for a total of 46 yards you probably were not compensated for in fantasy. Hopkins’ only real sin in this game was dropping a wide-open catch over the middle of the field on a Patrick Mahomes miracle-scramble. He also one-handed a would-be touchdown out of the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter. Hopkins has not exactly been a league-winner for the Chiefs, being held under 60 yards in his three previous games. He’ll be a bottom-tier WR3 option or good FLEX against the Chargers in Week 14.

The 49ers selected Bell in the 2023 NFL draft’s seventh round after the former Michigan prospect flashed explosive traits at the NFL combine. Bell was never able to produce consistently as a receiver and likewise struggled to find his footing on special teams. He concludes his 49ers tenure with eight receptions, 90 yards and three touchdowns on 19 targets.

No full-time role for Hunt is pretty much the end of his fantasy viability as a starter. He added two catches for zero yards on four targets. He doesn’t have to be outright dropped — you certainly could argue he’s droppable if you need a roster spot — but he can be safely benched in most leagues for the time being.