NFL Player News

Dobbins had plenty of room with which to operate against a middling Cleveland rush defense that had been exploited in recent weeks. Dobbins scored two short touchdowns, including one in garbage time. Kimani Vidal, meanwhile, had five rushing attempts for just seven yards. Coming into the week, Dobbins had at least three receptions in four of the past five games. Dobbins, with at least 14 rushes in every game but one this season, will be a RB2 with touchdown upside in Week 10 against the Titans.

Canales cited the team’s youth as a reason to get in some preseason reps. It will be our first chance to get a live look at Young in a game environment after the former No. 1 overall pick has reportedly turned in a solid start to camp, which is a promising sign coming on the heels of his strong close to his 2024 season. Young and the Panthers hope a young receiving corps, coupled with the return of Adam Thielen, will prove to be enough to elevate an offense that ranked outside the top-25 in passing yards and yards per attempt last season. The Panthers will play host to the Browns next Friday in their first preseason game.

Wicks missed practice earlier in the week with a calf injury, but the third-year receiver was spotted on the field Friday, suggesting his injury was fairly minor. Wicks has a chance to play a key role for the Packers early in the year as Christian Watson (knee) continues to work his way back to the field.

Worthy’s entering the league’s concussion protocol sounds like something that was done out of precaution by the team. The second-year receiver reportedly did not suffer a brain injury upon further evaluation on Thursday and should be good to go after the scare. He was seen back on the practice field on Friday after missing the previous day’s session.

Williams suffered a calf injury in Thursday’s practice and was sidelined on Friday as a result. Glenn said the decision to give Williams a few weeks to recover is “precautionary,” so it doesn’t sound like this will be something that carries over into the season. Williams missed time in 2022 with a similar injury, and Glenn added that “he understands exactly how you have to operate” to ensure proper healing. Glenn totaled 37 tackles and six sacks in 2024 on his way to his third Pro Bowl. At this point, we would expect Williams to be good to go when the Jets play host to the Steelers in Week 1.

Richardson’s stock continues to rise after a tumultuous offseason that had some questioning whether or not he’d be ready for camp due to a shoulder injury. The former first-round pick reportedly turned in another strong practice on Thursday that featured a handful of deep passes that left Steichen praising his level of play thus far. The Athletic’s James Boyd believes the QB camp battle between Richardson and Daniel Jones is “neck and neck” thus far, which may lead to a more drawn-out process to determine the Week 1 starter against the Dolphins. We would still expect both Jones and Richardson to make starts at some point in the season, but the gap between the two signal-callers may not be as wide as initially thought after Richardson turned in one of the worst quarterback performances in recent memory last season.

This is about as strange a negotiation as one could imagine. According to Russini, Parsons and owner Jerry Jones “spoke directly’ about a deal on multiple occasions this offseason, with the team reportedly believing a deal had been reached during those discussions. However, Parsons believed “the talks were just conversations” and ultimately wished for his agent to handle negotiations. Russini then reports that when Parsons’ agent attempted to reach out, the team “declined to engage with him and told Parsons that they believed they already had a deal.” It goes without saying that things aren’t great between Parsons and the Cowboys, with reports their relationship having completely “deteriorated.” Parsons is expected to become the highest-paid non-QB in league history whenever a deal is reached. While that would almost certainly go a long way in repairing things, there’s little reason to believe a deal is on the horizon at this point in time.

Lemieux appeared in seven games for the Saints last season while making four starts. The sixth-year vet has appeared in just 25 games since being drafted No. 150 overall by the Giants in 2020, and shouldn’t be considered a lock to make the roster this season. Per PFF, Lemieux played on 337 snaps at center last season, earning a blocking grade of 51.1.

Russini reports Parsons could request a trade or may make “a declaration that he is severing his relationship with the team.” The star pass rusher has shown goodwill throughout his contract negotiations as he seeks a new deal, participating in mandatory minicamp earlier this offseason while also reporting to training camp. He’s missed practice due to a “back injury” that many are viewing as an attempt to hold in to avoid camp fines, but regardless, Parsons has been in the building. Parsons said last week that there hadn’t been “much movement” in negotiations between him and the team, which means we shouldn’t expect to see him on the field any time soon. The price for Parsons is only going to go up the longer the Cowboys avoid paying him. Locking him in for the best price possible would have seemed like the ideal thing to do long ago, but instead, the Cowboys prefer to string things along for reasons known only to them. This continues to be a stalemate that doesn’t appear anywhere close to a resolution, and now runs the risk of alienating Parsons from the team if things aren’t resolved shortly.

This doesn’t exactly come as surprising news. Austin, who is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie deal, posted a career-high receiving line of 36-548-4 last season but has also served as the team’s primary punt returner since 2023. He’s a solid role player who can add an element of speed to the offense and special teams, but there’s been little reason to expect he would receive an extension before playing out the final year of his contract. Austin doesn’t have fantasy upside entering this season and can be avoided in most leagues and formats.

We’d expect to know more about the severity of Williams’ injury once head coach Aaron Glenn speaks to the media at the end of Friday’s practice. The star defensive tackle injured his calf during Thursday’s practice and was not spotted on the field Friday. Williams totaled 37 tackles, six sacks, and eight TFLs last season, earning a third-straight trip to the Pro Bowl. We’ll provide an update on Williams’ status when the team announces it.