NFL Player News

The Lions are adding their practice squad to their offseason 90-man roster. A 23-year-old UDFA out of small-school “Bryant,” Kennedy spent one game on the 53-man roster in 2019.

Nacua’s 56 receiving yards tied with Colby Parkison for the team high in Sunday’s win over the Bears. His 10 targets led all Rams players, but Nacua was unable to get much of anything going through the air after going for 10-111-1 in last week’s win over the Panthers. The third-year receiver’s biggest play of the game came on a third-and-six in overtime when he converted a first down on a 16-yard gain to help move the Rams within field goal range. Kicker Harrison Mevis would nail a 42-yard field goal four plays later to send the Bears packing, as Nacua and the Rams now prep for an NFC West showdown with the Seahawks and a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Nacua went for a whopping 12-225-2 the last time the Rams played the Seahawks, and will hope to replicate some of those numbers next week in the Conference Championship game.

Williams found the end zone twice in this one. The fourth-year back punched in a four-yard score on the Rams’ opening possession to give his team an early 7-0 lead, and later found the end zone on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter to break a 10-10 tie. Williams never found much room to run in this one, with his longest runs coming on two 10-yard gains. The Rams didn’t truly lean on Williams until late in the game, as 14 of his 21 carries came in the fourth quarter or overtime, but his two scoring plays more than made up for his rather pedestrian total on the ground. Williams will face another tough test in next week’s NFC Championship Game when he goes on the road to face a stout Seahawks defense that held him to 23-70-0 on the ground the last time the two teams met.

Williams and the Bears appeared to be setting the stage for yet another comeback in this one. Facing a fourth-and-four with under 30 seconds left on the game clock, Williams dropped back and found himself immediately under duress. After dropping back over 25 yards beyond the original line of scrimmage, and with three defenders in his face, Williams heaved a perfectly thrown ball off his back foot into the end zone for Cole Kmet, who secured the pass for a 14-yard touchdown to force overtime. An errant pass on what appeared to be a miscommunication between Williams and DJ Moore resulted in an interception that ended the Bears’ only overtime possession, as the Rams went on to capitalize on the turnover with a Harrison Mevis 42-yard field goal to end the game and the Bears’ season. Williams thrived in his first season under head coach Ben Johnson, turning in multiple highlight-reel throws will pulling off an NFL record seven comeback wins. His final regular season line of 3,942-27-7 set new career highs, and he added another 77-388-3 on the ground. With plenty of young weapons already locked in for next season, Williams should continue to improve in 2026 with another year of experience under his belt and more time to learn under Johnson.

The Rams’ offense struggled to get going in the wintry conditions at Soldier Field, but a solid defensive effort kept the game within reach and gave the Rams plenty of chances to pull out the win. Despite not throwing a touchdown pass in this one, Stafford did his part to keep the offense on schedule, coming up with multiple big gains through the air on the Rams’ two touchdown drives that both ended with Kyren Williams finding the end zone. Stafford saw two sack fumbles take favorable bounces into the hands of Rams players to keep his turnover total to zero on the day, and will now look to pull off a third-straight road win against the Seahawks next week for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

With the Texans in skill corps injury crisis as C.J. Stroud imploded vs. Mike Vrabel’s defense, Hutchinson somehow commanded 10-plus targets for the first time in his three-year corps. Bizarre, and not a harbinger of things to come. Although Christian Kirk is headed to free agency, Nico Collins isn’t going anywhere, while rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel both intrigued in 2025. Hutchinson will probably make the 53-man roster in the final year of his rookie deal, but that’s not locked in. He has 55 catches over 49 career contests. Admittedly, 35 of those came in 2025. This coaching staff probably likes Hutchinson enough to keep him around one more year.

One of Kirk’s missed connections was a hellacious first quarter drop. A Wild Card hero, Kirk was one of many Divisional Round goats despite his 10-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Mostly a 4-6 target player out of the slot this season, Kirk was able to hold off third-round rookie Jaylin Noel, but only just. Now heading into his age-30 campaign as he prepares for free agency, Kirk could be a victim of the Texans’ receiver youth movement. Wherever he plays in 2026, the best he could hope for in fantasy is low-ceiling WR4 status.

Nico Collins (concussion) was sidelined and Dalton Schultz (calf) soon joined him, but third-rounder Noel commanded only one target as C.J. Stroud turned his 47 attempts into just 20 completions and an unfathomable four interceptions. Unlike fellow Iowa State rookie Jayden Higgins, fellow 23-year-old Noel never took on a bigger role in the Texans’ offense after popping up for some 4-5 catch performances in late October/early November. He caught six total passes after Thanksgiving, including zero in the playoffs. With fellow slot man Christian Kirk headed to free agency, there’s still plenty of reason to believe Noel could be more involved in 2026, but he is looking like an average at best hold in shallower dynasty leagues.

With Nico Collins (concussion) out and Dalton Schultz (calf) soon joining him, Higgins took over as the Texans’ No. 1 pass catcher after playing second fiddle to Christian Kirk in the Wild Card Round. Although it was a disastrous day for the Texans’ passing attack, Higgins was indeed a “rare bright spot.” Although he was much more involved in the second half of the season than the first, Higgins did have a quiet stretch run as the Texans rode their defense to the postseason. The No. 34 overall pick still showed more than enough for fantasy managers to maintain optimism heading into Year 2 in Houston. Collins spends an unfortunate amount of time on the shelf, while Schultz has no guaranteed money remaining on his contract. Kirk is an impending free agent. Already with a 41/525/6 slash to his name, Higgins could end up a “surprising” 2026 WR2 in fantasy.

Making what was likely his final appearance as a Texan, Chubb was a ground-game afterthought despite Woody Marks’ ongoing ineffectiveness. Veteran deference made Chubb the Texans’ lead back to begin the season, but he was easily passed by Marks, who never surrendered No. 1 status despite ineffectiveness of his own. Now on the wrong side of 30 and simply out of gas, free-agent-to-be Chubb probably won’t land guaranteed money on the open market. The main things working in his favor at this point are his experience, leadership and aversion to fumbling.

After a two-year stint with the Texans from 2023 to 2024, PFF Bobby spent last season as the Dolphins’ passing game coordinator. Slowik burst on the scene with the Texans in 2023, leading the team to a 13th-ranked finish in points while also finishing 12th in total yards. He was fired following the 2024 season after the offense took a major step back and CJ Stroud regressed in his sophomore season, but Slowik is yet another branch of the Shanahan coaching tree, and should eventually earn another look as an offensive coordinator after some time off. The Eagles are the first team to request an interview, but it wouldn’t be surprising if more teams followed suit in the coming days.