Bears claim IN ‘sole focus'; still talking to IL

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Beck suffered a rib injury in the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame game against the Panthers. Despite feeling “soreness,” he managed to practice this week. The Cardinals “decided to keep him out tonight as a precaution and to allow more time to heal.” This pours a little cold water on Beck’s moderate hype, but the reporting suggests that the injury is not overly concerning. Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett will start, and presumably be relieved by QB Kedon Slovis at some point. No word yet on QB Gardner Minshew’s potential involvement tonight.

You, of course, cannot simply flip a switch and “finish better,” but it remains notable that the Packers’ players and coaches have spent the entire offseason and summer pledging to avoid the late-game collapses that have so often plagued them in recent seasons. It would appear coach Matt LaFleur and company are dead serious about changing their mindset. That is always easier said than done, but offensive balance just for the sake of it looks like it might be out the window in Green Bay this season. Hopefully the same will be true of taking the air out of the ball the second they have a second half lead. Again, it would be far from surprising if nothing really changes, but it is rare you will hear a team have these kinds of conversations out in the open. A more aggressive mindset would obviously only mean good things in fantasy football.

This is mostly just for bookkeeping purposes, though it’s now been three days since Nacua was able to practice in full. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has reported Nacua is dealing with “minor soreness,” but “minor soreness” has a way of spiraling when teams aren’t required to actually be honest with their injury reports during training camp. The most important thing is, there has been zero indication Nacua’s Week 1 status is in doubt. We will let you know if that changes.

So, Indiana is not the sole focus then. The Bears finally have the parameters of a stadium deal with a desperate local(ish) municipality but understandably seem to be having trouble admitting they are truly moving on from Chicago and/or Illinois. They should be. The Indiana solution seems inelegant at best. This could be the world’s longest shakedown attempt on the Land of Lincoln, but it doesn’t seem to be providing fruit. At some point the team is going to have to either accept its Indiana fate or — gasp — be willing to spend more of its own money to remain in its home state.

Nick Underhill later added that the injury “isn’t super serious.” The bigger issue is that the hamstring injury simply won’t go away. Tyson was unable to participate in the NFL Combine over five months ago because of a hamstring injury. He was then limited during the offseason program before returning to practice at the start of training camp. Now the injury is back and there’s no telling how long it will keep the rookie off the field. Tyson had a sky-high ceiling coming out of Arizona State, but the disjointed offseason will likely prevent him from making much of an impact in fantasy lineups early in the season.

That would mean Thomas is set to play on the outside at the line of scrimmage. Parker Washington will presumably play in the slot with Jakobi Meyers and Travis Hunter fighting for flanker duties. As Wolfe notes, Liam Coen learned last year that going over the middle of the field and taking hits isn’t BTJ’s thing. Instead, he will likely be tasked with winning deep and beating man coverage. Wolfe noted Liam Coen’s roots in the Rams’ offense and compared BTJ’s role to that of Brandin Cooks and Sammy Watkins when they played in LA. Cooks topped 1,200 receiving yards in his first season with the Rams but fell below 600 in his second and final season with the team. Watkins, meanwhile, played just one season in LA and was also held under 600 yards. All signs point to Washington being the team’s No. 1 receiver this year.

Reid alluded to this decision last week and is only making it official now. Mahomes is, by all accounts, fully recovered from the torn ACL he suffered last year. He was reportedly ahead of schedule throughout the offseason and is now scrambling around at training camp as if nothing happened. Whether or not he plays in the preseason shouldn’t affect his fantasy outlook. Even if he runs less this year, an improved ground game and a change at offensive coordinator should keep Mahomes in the QB1 ranks.

Canales told reporters that Hubbard is expected to be ready for Week 1, but the team will “be smart about it.” Jonathon Brooks will make his preseason debut this weekend and has already turned heads in the opening weeks of training camp. Hubbard’s absence will give him an even cleaner path to touches early in the year. Brooks is currently going as the RB30 in Best Ball drafts and has already flipped Hubbard. His ADP is all but guaranteed to reach the stratosphere after this news.

Roberts played with the Steelers from 2023-2024, starting 29 games and tallying 147 combined tackles with 3.5 sacks in that span. The 31-year-old started 16 games for the Raiders last season and now returns to Pittsburgh to be a veteran presence in the middle of the defense. With Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson the listed starters at linebacker, Roberts will need to compete for snaps to stick on the Steelers roster this season.

Waller returned from retirement to play in nine games for the Dolphins last season. He hauled in 24-of-34 targets for 283 and six touchdowns before a groin injury ended his season prior to Week 18. The 33-year-old has a chance at being a red zone target for the Panthers, who previously had Tommy Tremble, Mitchell Evans, and Ja’Tavion Sanders listed at tight end. Waller brings veteran experience as a late add who should get enough usage to make him an option as a low-end TE2 for fantasy purposes.