NFL Player News

Evans, 31, is nursing a hamstring injury that pre-dates the Buccaneers’ Week 11 bye. The veteran receiver opened last week with two missed practices before logging a limited session on Friday and ultimately being removed from the team’s final injury report. We’d expect him to follow a similar path for Week 15, and perhaps the rest of the season.

Dean was dealing with a knee injury coming into this game after missing Week 18. He seemed to aggravate the injury late in the third quarter while in coverage. It would be a major blow for the Bucs’ defense if he were to miss the remainder of the game. Dean has been in primary coverage on Terry McLaurin during this game and broke up a touchdown earlier in the third quarter.

Molden injured his meniscus in Week 15 against the Buccaneers and missed one game. He returned in Week 17 against the Patriots, only to suffer a season-ending fibula fracture. With the surgery planned for later this month, Molden also said he “expects to be running in the next six weeks.” It is unclear as to whether Molden’s meniscus surgery will be a trim or a full repair. Molden was drafted as a 2021 third-round pick by the Titans but struggled to find his footing while dealing with injuries in his second and third NFL seasons. He thrived as a do-it-all defensive back for the Chargers this season though, notching a career-high three interceptions while tying previous career-highs in total tackles (74) and tackles for loss or no gain (four). Molden is scheduled to hit free agency this offseason but “told the coaching staff he wants to return in 2025.”

This is a big blow for the Commanders. The 320-pound defensive tackle has 42 tackles, four sacks, and five tackles for a loss on the season while soaking up attention from blockers in the middle of the defensive line. Payne injured his finger early in the second quarter of the game and seemed to be in immense pain on the sideline. It would be a huge boost for the Tampa Bay running game if Payne can’t come back in.

Henley told The Athletic’s Daniel Popper that he suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder during the Chargers’ Week 4 loss to the Chiefs. Henley nonetheless finished with 49 tackles in run defense and 50 in coverage this season.

Chark is now five years removed from his lone 1,000-yard season. The 28-year-old is past his prime and a setback stemming from his August hip injury certainly did not help. The Chargers are still trying to establish their long-term receiving corps personnel so re-upping for another season may be Chark’s best bet.

The 2023 second-round pick played 15 of 66 snaps, finishing as the clear No. 2 tight end. He missed the vast majority of the season while dealing with an ankle injury, ending the year with a 7/45 receiving line on 10 targets in seven games. If we write off this as a lost season for Musgrave, you can build a comeback case for 2025 on his draft stock and what he showed in 2023. The problem is that Tucker Kraft has placed the Packers TE1 bar pretty high, and the team rarely uses a second tight end. Musgrave is not a must-roster in deeper dynasty leagues at this point.

He added 10 yards on the ground on a pair of successful tush pushes (tush pushii?) and was a reliable checkdown option for Jalen Hurts. Kraft at times demonstrated some real burst and wiggle in the open field in 2024, finishing the regular season with a 50/707/7 receiving line and starting all 17 games. At the very least, he clearly won the main tight end role away from the oft-injured Luke Musgrave. You could make an argument that Kraft was the most physically imposing target the Packers employed this year, but he’s just not a main focal point of the offense. He’ll enter the 2025 offseason as a borderline TE1 option in fantasy.

Sinnott left the game in the middle of the second quarter and after a brief time in the medical tent, was deemed questionable to return. The rookie hasn’t been a huge factor for the Commanders this season with starting TE Zach Ertz having another strong season.

Most notably, he failed to catch a sideline ball from Jordan Love on a fourth-down pass where one of Heath’s feet clearly came down on the out-of-bounds line. Heath started against the Rams in Week 5, playing 76 percent of the snaps and drawing just three targets. Otherwise he was just a depth outside option for the Packers, only seeing extended playing time in Week 18. Heath will compete for a depth role with the Packers in August.

An established depth piece for the Packers, Melton was active for every game this season and finished with a 8/91 line on 17 targets. He got his hands on a Jordan Love ball in the end zone but didn’t look appreciably close to either actually catching the ball or getting his feet inbounds. Melton’s work on specials teams should give him a leg up to keep a lower-depth chart role for the Packers, but it would take a deep injury rash for him to see a fantasy-relevant workload as a receiver.