NFL Player News

The boo birds were out in full force in Chicago as the Bears offense strung together another abysmal performance, failing to score a touchdown for the second straight game. A combination of offensive line failures, receivers not gaining separation, and Caleb Williams holding the ball long led to a whopping nine sacks by the Patriots defense. Williams did not turn the ball over but could not push the ball downfield, averaging just 4.0 yards per attempt. The Bears have major issues to address all the way down to the coaching staff before the offense will see improvement. Williams is a back-end QB2 against the Packers for Week 11.

Taylor was released last week with Christian McCaffrey returning in Week 10. He now returns to the 49ers, having registered seven carries for 25 yards and one catch for 12 yards in eight games for the team this season. In a corresponding move, RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn was released from the practice squad.

The 49ers are re-signing one of their starting cornerbacks, giving Lenoir a five-year deal through 2029. The 25-year-old was originally a fifth-round pick and in the midst of a contract year. He started every game for the 49ers over each of the last two seasons, snagging five interceptions and logging 16 passes defended over 26 games in that time. Lenoir is one of the 49ers’ best defensive players and the team locks him up before he hit the open market.

McGovern was last on the Saints, spending a month in New Orleans after the team signed him off the Jets’ practice squad. He is a nine-year veteran who spent 2020-2023 on the Jets. McGovern now returns to provide depth to the Jets’ interior offensive line.

Lattimore still has not practiced since joining the Commanders. He has been dealing with a lingering hamstring injury for much of the season, missing Week 10. Listed as DNP twice to start the week, Lattimore is likely to be out for Thursday’s game against the Eagles.

Seibert continues to be sidelined due to a hip injury he suffered in Week 9. He has yet to practice since that game, missing Week 10 as the Commanders turned to Zane Gonzalez. The way Seibert is trending this week, he is likely to be out again for Thursday against the Eagles.

This could just be a low-key thing, we certainly haven’t seen any of the 49ers beats make a big deal about it. But it’s something to monitor on the Wednesday practice circuit. Kittle hasn’t missed a game since Week 3 and already has seven touchdowns this season, more than he had in 16 healthy 2023 games.

It was, as usual, estimated. The ankle injury was a new listing on Monday, but it doesn’t seem like it’s all that serious. The team didn’t release an injury report until after Nick Sirianni had spoken on Monday, and only assistants spoke on Tuesday. It’s possible Goedert winds up questionable on Wednesday given the lack of context around this so far, but it’s hard to read what we’ve seen so far on the report as much of a signal for that.

It was estimated, as usual on Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s likely that Smith’s DNP on Monday was just a rest day for a hamstring that kept him on the injury report for most of last week before he had a forgettable 2/14 outing against the Cowboys in a game Philadelphia barely had to pass in. It seems much more likely he’ll be involved against the Commanders on Thursday night.

“The particular usage this past game was unique to the game plan and that’s kind of the case when you have one football and multiple talented running backs that all contribute in various ways. ... He’s still the leader of that room and we’ll be counting on him all season for us to get where we wanna go,” McDaniel said in full. Mostert should still be considered the No. 2 back going forward for the Dolphins. It’s just that the team’s offense has not been good enough to make that a particularly fantasy-appealing role right now.

Miami’s had problems with the spot opposite Jordyn Brooks at inside linebacker all season, with David Long Jr. posting a 27.4 PFF tackle grade and Anthony Walker being rough in coverage. It’s possible Dodson comes in and pushes for a starting job. We imagine they’ll probably give the in-house options another week or so while Dodson acclimates to the system, but taking on the remainder of Dodson’s base salary tells a story about how much they valued him.