NFL Player News

A Week 5 bye did the Eagles well, as they get back star receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in a critical game against the 1-4 Browns.

A special teams coordinator who had the assistant head coach label added to his mantle in 2022, Rizzi has been with the Saints since 2019. The long-time Dolphins special teams coordinator has not been a head coach since he handled things for the 2008 Rhode Island Rams. We mostly expect the status quo to rule in New Orleans as the season peters out for the Saints, though Rizzi noted that “they’ll evaluate everything and see if changes are needed ... maybe change is needed” at his initial presser.

Cooper’s deal includes $33 million in guaranteed money, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Cooper was a seventh-round pick of the Broncos back in 2021 and has carved out a nice career for himself thus far. He’s totaled 18.5 sacks in 56 career games and is sitting on 5.5 sacks through his first nine games of this season. He’s on pace to surpass last season’s 8.5 sack total — which set a new career high, and has been an instrumental piece of Sean Payton’s defense since Payton arrived in the Mile High City in 2023. Now secured through the 2028 season, Cooper will remain a key piece of the defense for years to come.

The Panthers have until Wednesday to activate Brooks from the PUP list or rule him out for the season. It’s mildly concerning that Canales won’t come out and say Brooks is playing in Week 10, especially after reports over the weekend said he was expected to return. The Panthers have pushed Brooks’ recovery about as far as it can go. We assume he’ll be officially activated on Wednesday barring an unexpected setback.

Canales also conceded that gamesmanship was part of the reason they hadn’t decided yet. OK, Dave. It makes little sense for the team to turn back to Andy Dalton with Bryce Young showing flickers of life the last two weeks, but perhaps they’ll get an offer for Young that is simply too good to pass up at the trade deadline. We’d list Young as the favorite to start against the Giants in Germany on Sunday.

He will practice with the team today, though there is no actual practice report for a Monday session. McCaffrey’s 21-day window to return is now open, meaning he could return as soon as this week or as late as Week 13 against the Bills. Obviously all the reporting is pretty optimistic about a return this week, and Ian Rapoport says “he has a real chance to play this week.” We will see how practice goes for McCaffrey on Wednesday.

Browning was activated from injured reserve last month after dealing with a knee injury he suffered in Week 2. The fourth-year linebacker has totaled 9.5 sacks in 43 career games and tallied 4.5 sacks last season. The Cardinals hope Browning can add to a pass rush that currently ranks 13th in the league in sacks with 21.

But, with the caveat: “with optimism he can go vs. Philadelphia.” Adam Schefter called the injury a sprained AC joint and seconded the idea that Lamb has a chance to play in Week 10. Lamb played through the shoulder injury towards the end of Week 9’s loss to the Falcons, catching a two-point conversion on Dallas’ final offensive play of the game. Lamb is still startable with Cooper Rush expected to be under center, but ceiling expectations should probably reduced at this point for the star wideout.

In addition to Okudah, the Texans also designated LB Jerry Hughes for return. They now have 21 days to activate both players from injured reserve or rule them out for the remainder of the season. Okudah signed a one-year deal with the Texans this offseason after spending all of 2023 with the Falcons. The former first-round pick totaled 44 tackles in 13 games while breaking up three passes last season. Hughes, who has seen limited work in four games this season has only one tackle.

There are two things we do here on Rotoworld Mondays: Tell you that Daniel Jones is still the Giants starting quarterback and tell you that Christian McCaffrey will be back after his Week 9 bye. This is the second of those things. We’ll wait until we see actual practice participation before getting our hopes up entirely, but the drumbeat of the sourced reports continues to be strongly in favor of McCaffrey playing on Sunday.

It’s a brutal blow for Prescott and the 3-5 Cowboys. Rapoport reports Prescott will seek a second opinion on his injury but reiterated that he is “out multiple weeks, and it could be more.” With Prescott now sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Cowboys will turn to Cooper Rush, who completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and one touchdown in Sunday’s loss to the Falcons. Rush has a career passing line of 1786-9-6 on 275 passes and is 5-1 as a starter. He should give the Cowboys a fighting chance in Week 10’s game against the Eagles, but this injury do Dak looks like the proverbial nail in the coffin of the Cowboys’ 2024 campaign.