Betting

This is a positive update for Shaheed, who was forced from last week’s game against the Panthers. The Seahawks face the 49ers on Saturday, and the winner takes home the NFC West crown while also securing the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed. Having Shaheed on the field would be extremely helpful for Seahawks QB Sam Darnold.

The 49ers are hosting only a walkthrough this evening. Logging a limited session is a plus for Pearsall, who has been plagued by lower-body injuries this season. He looked great running routes against the Bears last week, and can be treated as a WR3 with upside against the Seahawks’ tough defense in Week 18.

Great news. Kittle will be a limited participant in Tuesday evening’s walkthrough. The talented tight end sat out in Week 17 after missing practice all week. Backup TE Jake Tonges caught 7-of-8 targets for 60 yards and one touchdown in Kittle’s stead. If Kittle is unable to face the Seahawks on Saturday, Tonges will again be a viable streamer.

The 49ers will conduct a walkthrough today, though McCaffrey will not participate. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that McCaffrey’s back is “a little stiff.” Trainers tended to McCaffrey’s back between drives, late in the fourth quarter during the 49ers’ Week 17 win over the Bears. He returned and played effectively. We expect him to do so this week as well, though backup RB Brian Robinson must be rostered wherever he is available.

What exactly that entails, Fowler doesn’t actually get into, but he says “those are two places I see as like — they’ve done their preliminary research for a potential move, doesn’t mean they’re likely to do it or that they’ve decided yet.” We blurbed yesterday that Ian Rapoport doubts the Raiders will keep Pete Carroll. It sure sounds like the Browns and Stefanski should also be on the radar for a firing (or potentially a trade) once Week 18 unfolds. Stefanski gave up playcalling to Tommy Rees in early November and was reportedly less than thrilled when the Browns traded Joe Flacco to the Bengals. If the Browns did move on from Stefanski, he would be a strong candidate to pick up a new head coaching gig this offseason after twice winning the AP Coach of the Year award in 2020 and 2023.

Mayfield has been listed with a left shoulder injury previously, but pops up here with a right shoulder listing from the Buccaneers. We don’t doubt that Mayfield will play. We also don’t doubt that he’s clearly playing through injury at this point, as he has struggled since leaving Tampa’s Week 12 game against the Rams at halftime. Over his past five appearances he has just a 63 percent completion rate, 216.8 yards per game, and seven touchdowns against five interceptions.

In other words: If both GM Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon get fired, Cardinals ownership will leave the quarterback decision up to their new braintrust. Most rumors that we’ve seen leading up to Black Monday have had Ossenfort safe — he’d probably bring back Jacoby Brissett on the second year of a two-year deal and then draft a quarterback to either push or develop behind Brissett. But given how disappointing the Cardinals have been en route to falling from 2-0 to 3-13, we shouldn’t be surprised if Ossenfort doesn’t survive.

Panthers coach Dave Canales said he is “pretty confident” that Dowdle will be good to go on Saturday afternoon. It has not been uncommon for Dowdle to get an early practice off this year, so we don’t have much reason to worry about his status for Week 18’s NFC South showdown just yet.

Per Wilson, Mixon “got some procedures on his own, away from the Texans, not from the Texans medical personnel, and it apparently affected the foot, the blood flow, and progress turned into a stall.” The major takeaway is Wilson saying that “the reason there’s so much mystery about this is because Joe Mixon prefers it that way ... there was electromagnetic therapy that was done to try to reduce inflammation in the foot.” The easy outside assumption has been that the Texans will simply release Mixon after the season. It would be interesting to see if there were grievances if they did decide to toll his contract — the Texans did pay Mixon his full salary this year rather than coming after it. This update at least opens the door that Mixon could return to the Texans in 2026. Wilson repeated that Mixon will not return in the 2025 season, including the playoffs.

While the Cowboys have insisted that they’re playing their starters in Week 18, nothing in that guarantee says they’ll play most of the game. Javonte Williams (shoulder) left Week 17’s win over the Commanders, and Malik Davis is apparently also dealing with an eye injury. It’s possible that both start or get a limited runway and the Cowboys see what Blue can do, making Blue a Week 18 running back of interest. The fifth-round rookie hasn’t had a real role since October after a fumble against the Broncos.