Steichen: Pierce slated to practice this week

Tagovailoa, fighting injuries for much of the offseason, missed Atlanta’s first two games with an oblique issue. He’ll return just in time to serve as backup to Michael Penix, who’s returning from a 2025 ACL injury. Penix is set to start Thursday night against a Packers defense allowing the ninth lowest adjusted yards per pass attempt.

Carolina is in need of some backfield reinforcements after losing Jonathon Brooks to a core injury that will leave him sidelined for at least six weeks. AJ Dillon is set to fill in for Brooks while Chub Hubbard presumably continues as the team’s lead back. Ekeler, 31, who hasn’t played since injuring his Achilles last September, could be an emergency running back if Hubbard or Dillon go down with injuries in the coming weeks. First he’ll need to make the squad.

Brooks will be sidelined for at least six weeks. It opens the door for Chuba Hubbard to dominate the Carolina backfield for the next month and a half, with AJ Dillon chipping in as a breather back. Through two game Hubbard leads the Panthers backfield with 22 rushes for 102 yards. He’s run a route on 50 percent of the team’s drop backs and have five targets. The Panthers, meanwhile, have the second highest pass rate over expected through Week 2. Hubbard will be a locked-in top-20 option going forward. Dillon can be stashed in case Hubbard gets dinged up while Brooks is recovering.

Campbell spoke in a dejected tone when asked about the Lions’ safety duo returning to practice, particularly when discussing Joseph’s outlook. Campbell said Joseph did not suffer a setback, but stopped short of fully explaining the situation. It sounds like Joseph’s recovery stalled. The training staff was focused on strengthening Joseph’s knee, “but there was a little time there where we weren’t able to do everything we needed to do.” The Lions will not ask Joseph to play until he gets his knee as strong as it can possibly be, “and he feels comfortable.” Branch could return to practice in the coming weeks, but at this point, Joseph’s career status seems like it might be up in the air.

Vacchiano explores myriad trade options that the Giants could explore in a lengthy article, but ultimately determines that rolling with Winston, while QB Jaxson Dart (knee) is sidelined, is the team’s best course of action. According to Vacchiano, the Giants viewed Winston “as a solid veteran who was smart and talented enough to get them through a short stretch if Dart went down” when they signed him to a two-year, $13 million contract extension two weeks ago. “Their faith gets shakier when it’s a long-term proposition they were hoping to avoid,” but alas, this appears to be the situation the team is currently facing. If Winston can return to something resembling his 2019 Buccaneers form, when he posted a 5,109/33/30 passing stat line en route to an overall QB3 finish, he could facilitate usable outings for Giants pass catchers. Betting on that exact outcome is unwise, but Winston could be a QB1 streamer in the right situation.

Rapoport wrote that “there is a good chance” Bowers returns this week as the caption for his NFL Network segment. He used stronger language in the actual segment, telling viewers to “expect” Bowers to be on the field when the Raiders travel to New Orleans for a date with the Saints this week. The Raiders’ top pass catcher should be treated as an elite TE1 upon his return.

Johnson has turned 14 touches into 103 scrimmage yards thus far. Evidently pleased with his fifth-round rookie, Reid wants to keep “allowing Emmett to grow,” in turn taking “a little bit of load off” starting RB Kenneth Walker. Reid notes that Walker wants the ball on every play and is not asking for a lighter workload, but Reid is seeking “a nice balance with those two in there,” which “keeps them even more fresh as the season goes on.” Walker, of course, remains an elite RB1. Johnson, however, should be rostered in all 12-team leagues as a high-upside bench stash that could return standalone value before long.

To be clear, Rapoport’s tone was controlled and cautionary here. Darnold can only be considered questionable, at best. The Seahawks’ quarterback “is healing faster than anyone had imagined,” but Rapoport adds that the team wants to be “cautious” with him. Backup QB Drew Lock should probably be viewed as the presumptive Week 3 starter at this time, but it sounds like Darnold can reasonably be expected to play in Week 4 at the latest.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cooks is signing with the 49ers’ practice squad initially “to get up to speed for games.” Cooks, 32, posted a 24/279/0 receiving line in the regular season last year, before chipping in five catches for 78 yards in two playoff games. He is perhaps unlikely to be fantasy-relevant right away, but there is a real chance he could work his way into the 49ers’ wide receiver rotation, given their influx of injuries at the position.