NFL Player News

Estime ran five times for 35 yards in the Broncos’ Week 9 loss to the Ravens. His opportunities came primarily in garbage time, but his performance was apparently enough to warrant more touches going forward. Fantasy managers should take this news with a grain of salt, as Payton has failed to deliver on promises of increased workloads for other players in the past. That said, it’s easy to see why the Broncos would give Estime a longer look, as Javonte Williams has totaled just 46 rushing yards on his last 29 carries, and is averaging a meager 3.8 YPC this season. Estime is worth a stash ahead of Week 10’s game against the Chiefs, but we wouldn’t rush to start him until we see how things play out.

With lake effect snow bearing down on whatever the Browns’ stadium is called now, it wasn’t an easy night to be a wideout, but Jeudy led all pass catchers with his 85 yards. That included a critical fourth down conversion on what proved to be the Browns’ game-winning drive. Languishing with Deshaun Watson under center, Jeudy has posted at least 70 yards receiving in all four of Jameis Winston’s starts. He’s also predictably surpassed Cedric Tillman on the depth chart after the second-year pro went bonkers early. It’s taken five years and who knows how many quarterbacks, but Jeudy is finally looking like a player who was once a first-round pick. The Broncos are not a good Week 13 matchup, but Jeudy has earned some WR3 benefit of the doubt even for his tougher setups.

Warren out-rushed Najee Harris 45-41 despite handling five fewer carries. He’s now out-gained Harris two of the past three weeks despite taking smaller workloads all three times out. Finally over his early-season injury issues, Warren is again confirming he simply has more juice than his higher-volume backfield mate. Week 13 against the Bengals’ struggling defense should be a “FLEX Warren” kind of matchup.

Harris got out-rushed 45-41 by Jaylen Warren even though Warren handled five fewer carries. After seeming to get hot in mid-October, Harris is averaging just 2.85 yards per carry over the past three weeks. That’s especially bad since it’s a 55-tote sample size. Harris just has no lateral explosiveness, while Warren is finally looking healthy after his early-season injury issues. Harris is in danger of falling out of the top 24 at running back, especially for weeks like Week 13 where no teams are on bye. The Steelers will be visiting the Bengals.

The two scores — which each came from two yards out — more than doubled Chubb’s season total, but he finished below 60 yards rushing for the fifth time in as many tries. Chubb has averaged more than 3.3 yards per carry only once since returning from his knee woes. Tonight was a slopped-up snowfest in Cleveland, but Chubb looked like he would have been lumbering even in pristine conditions. The Browns probably needed to get backup Jerome Ford more involved, but he handled only five touches. The good news is that Chubb now has 11 days to reset and collect himself and see where he’s at in his comeback. His (hopefully) fresher legs will be needed against the Broncos’ strong pass defense on Week 13 Monday Night Football.

Wilson also took four sacks and lost a fumble. With the late effect snow swirling in Cleveland, it was another night of “moon ball or bust” for Wilson, who did manage to find each of Calvin Austin, Pat Freiermuth, George Pickens and Van Jefferson for at least one 20-plus yard completion. There wasn’t a whole lot going on beyond that, however, and the Steelers acknowledged as much by continually shuttling Justin Fields onto the field for important plays. Fields made a modest impact with his legs, but nothing that is going to have the Steelers re-thinking their starting situation despite a mini-slump the past five days. That being said, more will be needed and expected from Wilson in a soft Week 13 road date with the Bengals’ nonexistent defense. He will be in the streaming mix for that one.

Winston also lost a fumble in what can only be described as a “wild one.” With the snow starting early and turning into a swirling storm by the second half, the teams needed to get their points in early. So naturally they entered the final frame with just 16 combined tallies before going off for 27 in the fourth. Unfathomably, the fourth was where Winston both lost his fumble and tossed his interception, but the Steelers were even more determined to lose. Frankly, both teams seemed determined to lose with comical clock mismanagement late. Between the miscues, Winston kept sticking big throws to Jerry Jeudy, and survived some horrid drops by his seam stretchers. Winston has made the Browns more watchable while creating fantasy excitement, but he’s now in the midst of a brutal stretch of schedule, including the Broncos in Week 13. With no teams on bye for Thanksgiving week, we won’t be streaming Winston.

They are Fant’s first practice reps of the month of November after he got hurt in Week 8. Encouraging, though a “limited” tag after that lengthy layoff — including a Wednesday DNP — hardly guarantees the seam stretcher will be back against the 49ers. We would probably consider Week 13 more likely. Even if Fant does suit up, he is no longer in the top 20 mix at tight end.

“He was still limited today, he didn’t do as much yesterday but did a little bit more today,” Shanny claimed. “He went out there and did a little bit then went back in about halfway through and rested up. Hopefully it will be feeling great on Sunday.” Although it’s clear the 49ers will do whatever it takes to get Purdy in game shape for Sunday’s Seahawks showdown, it’s also clear they might be waging a losing battle against time. At this point, we don’t seem terribly likely to gain Friday clarity. Purdy’s status could come down to the weekend wire.

Highsmith’s absence was already known. Aside from the linebacker, this is about as quiet as a mid-season inactives list is going to get. Highsmith is week to week with what seems to be a high-ankle sprain.

All signs continue to point toward both White and Alexander Mattison (ankle) showing up on the Week 12 inactives list vs. the Broncos. On the one hand, it’s a nightmare for the Raiders against a strong pass defense. On the other, maybe Ameer Abdullah and Dylan Laube can’t actually be worse. It doesn’t matter either way for fantasy managers, who need to steer clear of this backfield even with six teams on bye.