NFL Player News

Stafford is experiencing tightness in his hamstring and will miss a few days of practice as a result. We wouldn’t read much into this beyond opting to exercise caution for their franchise quarterback with the season rapidly approaching. It should go without saying that Stafford won’t play in the Rams’ preseason matchup on Saturday against the Rams, which could pave the way for another long outing for Stetson Bennett.

Schefter noted a shift in the organization over the past 30 or so days. Despite Mayo being Bill Belichick’s hand-picked successor and recently having buy-in from owner Robert Kraft, the Pats’ late-season collapse has turned the tides against Mayo. New England’s last win came in Week 10 against Chicago. Now the only thing they have to play for is the No. 1 overall pick, which they are currently in line to secure this weekend. With Drake Maye looking as good as promised and the first pick potentially in hand, starting over with a new head coach makes sense for the Pats as they look to find their footing in their post-Belichick, post-Brady era.

The Raiders’ lack of a viable starting quarterback, per Schefter, is not considered Pierce’s fault. Pierce, meanwhile, is confident he will return in 2025 for another season at the helm in Vegas.

Henry was questionable all week with a foot injury but his absence is a bit of a surprise. Henry will finish the year with 66 catches for 674 yards, both career-highs. He had just two touchdowns on the season, but was the Patriots leading receiver. He has two more years on his contract, but his base salary jumps up to $6.5 million next year, which could make for an interesting discussion in the offseason. Without Henry in the lineup today, there will be extra opportunities for seventh-rounder Jaheim Bell and Jack Westover to make an impression for 2025.

It is a low-impact inactives list for the Cowboys in Week 18. Dallas has been eliminated from playoff contention and will look to impact the Commanders’ playoff seeding with a win this week. Grier will serve as the emergency third quarterback, having just been signed to the active roster this past week.

26-year-old Homer went from competing for Bears’ passing-down work to missing the final three games of the season with a hamstring issue. Not the best way for a special teamer to head back to free agency, especially since Chicago is once again experiencing turnover with its brain trust.

The Giants are at “full strength” entering their season-finale against the Eagles and will face a plethora of Philly’s backups. Rookie Malik Nabers is sitting on 104 receptions for the season and is hoping to finish the year with the rookie receptions record that is currently held by Raiders tight end Brock Bowers (108), who will play later in the day. Outside of that, there is little for this team to play for in Week 18.

He looks likely to get a big workload with Tyjae Spears (concussion) out and has touchdown and yardage-based incentives that could lead the Titans to feed him the ball. Inactive for the Titans are S Amani Hooker, Spears, K Nick Folk, WR Jha’Quan Jackson, OLB Arden Key, RT Jaelyn Duncan, and WR Tyler Boyd. All of those players asides from Jackson was ruled out by injury on Friday.

Horn, battling a lingering hip injury, will miss yet another game to finish out the 2024 season. He’ll finish the season with one interception and 13 passes defended in a Carolina secondary that ranked among the league’s worst throughout the year. Hunt being out is a major blow for the Panthers, facing an improving Atlanta pass rush.

Hines-Allen didn’t make the trip to Indy for personal reasons and will miss a mostly meaningless Week 18 affair with the Colts. Both teams are out of the playoff hunt after the Colts’ Week 17 loss. Hines-Allen’s season comes to a close with eight sacks and 10 TFLs.

McKee will make his first career start after throwing for 54 yards and two touchdowns on just four passes last week. Kenny Pickett (ribs) who entered the weekend as questionable is active and will serve as McKee’s backup.