NFL Player News

Fantasy managers should expect Ferguson to take the field for the Cowboys’ Week 14 Monday Night Football game against the Bengals. After two games off, the capable tight end should be ready to handle a TE1-worthy workload.

Hicks is currently being screened for a concussion. He is the second Browns defender to get injured in this one; CB Denzel Ward (shoulder) was ruled out at the beginning of the second half.

Ford had a very difficult time getting off-field and up to the locker room after exiting in the first half. His ankle issue apparently responded positively to half-time treatment and his locker room examination evidently showed nothing overly concerning.

The Rams game remains the outlier, as Shakir’s other four December games have lines of: 4/30/0, 6/39/1, and 2/22/0. Buffalo simply hasn’t been forced to pass all that often lately, and so while Shakir is the easy leading target, he’s prone to games like this when things get out of hand. And against the Jets, they very much got out of hand. Shakir could possibly be rested in Week 18 against the Patriots. With Mitchell Trubisky likely involved how little the Bills have to play for, you can probably do better in leagues that aren’t over yet.

Even with pure pocket passer Joe Flacco back under center against an awful Giants pass defense, Downs couldn’t re-discover his mid-season magic. Flacco locked on to deep threat Alec Pierce and short-area magnet Michael Pittman. Downs was stuck drawing as many targets as Adonai Mitchell and Jonathan Taylor. Downs’ lost momentum has had far more to do with the Colts’ chaotic offensive environment than his own play, but he is still set to head into Year 3 without having “put it all together.” Maybe he can at least do so for a Sunday against the sorry Jaguars in Week 18.

Coleman led Bills receivers with 63 snaps and came close to an explosive week as he dropped a sideline pass that would have gone for another 30 yards and saw a Josh Allen end zone target go low enough for Sauce Gardner to defense it early. The rookie remains unreliable and it’s likely that the extended playing time happened because of the score, but the volume and upside might make him the best playoff best ball pick in Buffalo’s receiver corps not named Khalil Shakir.

Armstead’s recurring knee injury flared up in the first half. The broadcast announced that he had been ruled out at the beginning of the second half. The Dolphins’ injury-plagued offense is running low on starters.

It doesn’t exactly put him back on the radar, but Cooper did a good veteran job on the sideline to box out his touchdown catch from Josh Allen. Cooper continues to be Buffalo’s fourth receiver behind Mack Hollins. 38 offensive snaps for Hollins produced 2/33 on two targets, while Cooper had just 22 snaps. It’s probably not going to happen for Cooper even in playoff best ball as he just seems to be a pass-downs only option while Hollins is trusted as a blocker.

Ward did a good job of covering Tyreek Hill early on, preventing a would-be long touchdown in the first half. Ward’s absence will likely be felt in the second half.

Young’s date with the Bucs had the makings of a shootout in the first quarter. Tampa Bay scored on their opening drive and Young returned the favor with a touchdown toss to Adam Thielen. The Panthers would then go three-and-out on their next three drives. By the time Young threw his second touchdown, also to Adam Thielen, the Bucs had 27 points on the board. Tamp Bay then shut out the Panthers in the second half. The second-year passer made a few perfectly-placed deep throws to Thielen but couldn’t get anything going with his rookie receivers. Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette combined for 63 yards. Young was far from perfect in this game, but the lack of weaponry was also noticeable. Young will look to close out his season on a high-note versus the Falcons in Week 18.