NFL Player News

According to Bell, who will turn 32 in two weeks, he “will only come back for that one team.” We can safely assume the Steelers are “that one team,” as they are the team that drafted him in 2013 and the team he spent the first six years of his career with. Bell also said, “I will be better than I ever was,” which is a bold statement for a player who was twice named a Second-team All-Pro (2016 and 2017), and was a First-team All-Pro in 2014. In his prime, Bell was one of the best running backs in the league totaling 1800-plus yards from scrimmage in three of his first five seasons in the league. His 2018 holdout amidst a contract dispute with the Steelers resulted in him missing a year, only for him to return in 2019 to sign a four-year, $52.5 million deal with the Jets that lasted little more than a year. Bell clearly lost a step in his return to action and played only two more seasons before going unsigned in 2022. It’s genuinely hard to imagine Bell signing with a team, even if he does decide to return. At best, he’d be the RB3 on a Steelers roster that has a first-rounder in Najee Harris and an emerging dual-threat back in Jaylen Warren. Over the last 10 years, there have been 24 backs to handle a rush attempt in their age-32 season or later. Bell joining those ranks would be surprising.

Metcalf has missed the last two games since suffering a Grade 1 MCL sprain in Week 7 against the Falcons. His two-game absence comes as a bit of a surprise after there was some hope he would not miss any time, but hopefully, a third week of rest will buy him enough time to return for Week 11 against the 49ers.

It was an estimated practice, but this does explain Likely falling back into the fantasy football void against the Broncos last week. You certainly don’t need to roster Likely if a bye week crunch has befallen you. We probably won’t get much word on the extent of Likely’s injury until Tuesday or Wednesday.

After missing two of three practices last week, Jackson being left off Monday’s injury report is a great sign for his Week 10 availability. Fresh off a 280-yard, three-touchdown effort, Jackson will look to strengthen his MVP campaign on Thursday night when he takes on the Bengals. Jackson will be a strong QB1 in a game that could be ripe for fantasy points this week.

There are several offenses Njoku would improve if a trade were to occur, but the Browns appear unwilling to trade the 28-year-old tight end who broke out for 81-882-6 last season. He’s on pace to finish well below those totals this season, but with one year still left on his current deal, there’s a chance a quarterback upgrade next offseason could get the Browns back on track to contend in 2025.

Brown did not suit up for Week 9 against the Raiders and is probably a long shot to play on a short week on Thursday against the Ravens. If Brown does miss a second straight game, the Bengals will start Cody Ford at left tackle. In Sunday’s win over the Raiders, Ford earned a PFF pass-blocking grade of 64.8 while allowing zero sacks on four pressures.

It was an estimated practice, and frankly Higgins likely wouldn’t have practiced even if he had played on Sunday. Zac Taylor only gave a “we’ll see” when asked about Higgins playing on Thursday against Baltimore. At this point the first step for Higgins is actually practicing, something he has not done since injuring his quad two Fridays ago.

McCarthy said he has not spoken with the veteran back since Friday, but the expectation of this quote seems to be that Elliott will be active again on Sunday against the Eagles. Existing is practically all Elliott does from a fantasy football perspective. His only purpose at this juncture is to siphon away snaps from Rico Dowdle.

The Bills haven’t quite been the Vikings this year, but they’re still not a fantasy-friendly defense to play against. Flacco thudded hard against the Vikings on Monday night. You know things are going well for your quarterback process when beat reporters ask who the starting quarterback will be every Monday, right? Steichen went on to say that it was “just one game” when asked why Flacco would continue as the starter. Flacco will be a low-end superflex QB2 against the Bills.

Monday’s MRI confirmed previous reports that suggested Brown avoided a serious injury in Sunday’s win over the Jaguars. The day-to-day designation immediately gives Brown a good shot at suiting up in Week 10 against the Cowboys, but we’ll see if Wednesday’s injury report reveals a different outlook regarding his availability.

That’s an upgrade from last week’s “we’ll take it one day at a time.” Cooper was limited in practice all last week before becoming a surprise inactive off the questionable line. We expect to see him at practice again this week, but he’ll probably need some full sessions before anyone is confident he’ll be ready to play on Sunday against the Colts.