NFL Player News

After being listed as questionable heading into the weekend, Coker is officially active and profiles as a boom-or-bust WR5. He posted a solid 4-110-1 line on six targets in last week’s loss to the Panthers. While Coker is active, Xavier Legette was declared inactive, although that announcement was handed down before the weekend. The Panthers also declared S Jordan Fuller, CB Shemar Bartholomew, WR Velus Jones Jr., CB Akayleb Evans, C Cade Mays, and OL Brandon Walton inactive.

Hill suffered a concussion in Saturday’s loss and was immediately ruled out for the game. Players have a hard enough time bouncing back from a concussion with a full week to recover; Hill will have to get right in just three days if he hopes to suit up for Week 17’s game against the Texans. It seems unlikely that he would be cleared in time, which could open the door for either Rasheen Ali or Keaton Mitchell to serve as the Ravens’ pass-catching back.

Williams and the Bears fell behind early in this game. They opened with a three-and-out. Then, on their next two drives, Rome Odunze fumbled the ball away twice. One is credited to Williams as it came on a botched handoff. Chicago punted once more before getting on the board with a one-yard score in the second quarter. Williams settled in and scored another touchdown on his next drive, though it was too little too late. Chicago moved the ball well in the second half but only managed three points. Williams avoided the big mistakes, taking just two sacks with no interceptions to his name. Had the team woke up before the second quarter, maybe things could have been different. Williams has fared better under Thomas Brown, throwing multiple touchdowns in four of his past five games. He remains a fixture of the QB2 ranks for his Week 17 matchup with the Seahawks.

Spears saw his most utilization when the Titans were in comeback mode for the second half. With Tony Pollard (ankle) banged up, Spears also saw the Titans’ goal-line carries, scoring on 11-yard and two-yard runs. As long as Pollard remains a question mark, Spears will continue to get touches, especially when the Titans are playing catch-up. A soft Week 17 matchup against the Jaguars is on the horizon and Spears will have FLEX value for many fantasy championships.

Flowers totaled 100 yards in the Ravens Week 16 win over the Steelers and didn’t have an injury reported immediately after the team’s win. Whatever he’s dealing with is likely minor, but we’ll see how things develop as the week progresses. For now, we’ll assume this is more of a rest thing and that Flowers will be good to go for Wednesday’s game against the Texans.

Wednesday’s Christmas day games make for an interesting week of practice reports. Less than 24 hours after missing Week 16’s game against the Ravens with a hamstring injury, Pickens was listed as limited on Sunday’s estimated report, which is a good early outlook for his Week 17 availability against the Chiefs. Pickens has missed the Steelers’ last three games with this injury, and would provide an immediate boost to the Steelers’ passing game if he can suit up on Wednesday.

Pollard entered the game active despite not practicing all week due to an ankle injury. It was the second straight week he played through the ankle injury and he ceded passing-down snaps to Tyjae Spears in comeback mode once again. Pollard had a pass bounce off his hands for an interception while he also did not get any of the team’s goal-line carries, though he did convert a two-point conversion. He was banged-up on a Mason Rudolph hospital ball late in the game and will enter Week 17 limping into a meaningless game against the Jaguars. Pollard is no longer in workhorse territory with his ankle injury, but game script has a better chance of going his way against a middling Jaguars defense next week. Consider him a back-end fantasy RB2 for Week 17.

It was a run-of-the-mill destruction of an inferior team for Goff and the Lions. The veteran passer averaged over 10 yards per attempt for the fifth time this year and scored on nearly 10 percent of his dropbacks. The highlight of the day was a trick play toss to Sam LaPorta for a 21-yard score. Goff pretended to drop the snap and stumbled around, selling the appearance of him trying to gather a loose ball. Jahmyr Gibbs even got in on the action and dove near the not loose ball. After the fake was sold, Goff stood up and hit LaPorta in the back of the end zone. Goff has multiple scores in five of his past six games and is showing no signs of slowing. He will remain in the QB1 mix for his Week 17 matchup with San Francisco.

Brown showed no ill effects from the knee injury that caused him to miss practice time last week. He was targeted relentlessly by. Jalen Hurts and Kenny Pickett, who took over at QB after Hurts left the game in the first quarter with a brain injury. It could have been a much bigger stat line for the dominant Brown: He had 70 yards on pass interference penalties, mostly in the third quarter on downfield shots from Pickett. There will be more pass attempts to go around for Brown and DeVonta Smith if Pickett is forced to start for the Eagles next week against the Cowboys. That makes Brown a potential top-three option for fantasy championship week.

This if the warning fantasy managers who were hoping to start Jerry Jeudy and/or Elijah Moore needed to hear. Stefanski said DTR tweaked his calf in the first quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Bengals, but the fact he was able to finish out the game suggests this is a very minor injury. Fantasy managers banking viable weeks from David Njoku and Jerome Ford should get them with DTR under center, but Browns receivers caught a combined four passes for 41 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Bengals, making Moore and Jeudy nearly impossible to trust during fantasy championship week.

Reynolds was one of a few options to be the Lions’ next man up with David Montgomery out. Week 16’s split of the backup duties didn’t give us much clarity. Reynold’s four attempts led the group, but Jermar Jefferson ran three times and Sione Vaki caught two passes, pacing the trio in all receiving categories. The answer here is Jahmyr Gibbs and no one else. Fantasy managers can cut ties with Reynolds heading into Week 17.