NFL Player News

Richards qualifies for the veteran salary benefit, giving him a cap charge of $875K. The 28-year-old should return as a core special teamer for the Ravens after playing 79% of snaps on special teams last year.

McDuffie has not practiced since straining his groin in Week 6’s Thursday practice. Labeling him as questionable to play seems like a formality before a game-day inactive listing, but only the Rams’ staffers know for sure. The Rams ruled out LB Nate Landman (concussion). Practice squad LB Eric Kendricks will be promoted to the active roster for Week 7.

The fact that Nacua is not practicing today is a bad sign for his Week 7 availability. Ever the injury-related optimist, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported earlier today that Nacua’s injury is “more minor than anything else,” though he quickly balanced the scales by then saying that he would not call Nacua’s quick trip to the imaging room “precautionary, because it’s not nothing.” If active, Nacua should be in fantasy football lineups because his talent and workload are almost unparalleled. That said, he is on the wrong side of questionable, and the Rams obviously do not want his injury to worsen.

Did you remember he was on the roster? Funny what one little Kenneth Walker signing will do. Smith has one touch and six snaps in five games. Jadyn Ott will get RB3 duties in Week 7.

Hockenson suffered a concussion in Week 5 against the Saints and was able to heal up over the Vikings’ Week 6. He demonstrated a solid connection with Kyler Murray in Week 4, posting a 13/119 receiving line against the Dolphins. Hockenson can be treated as a TE1 this week against the Colts.

Rice didn’t practice all week despite Andy Reid’s optimistic spin that he’s a “quick healer.” It’s hard to make much sense of how available he’ll be for Week 8 at this point as Rice hasn’t practiced since before the team’s Week 5 bye. Xavier Worthy will again get a WR3-caliber workload as The Only Game In Town for the Chiefs wideouts.

Coming off the Vikings’ Week 6 bye, Jefferson got in a limited session on Wednesday before returning to full participation on Thursday. The star wide receiver posted a 6/79/1 receiving line in the Vikings’ Week 5 win over the Saints. He should be treated as an elite WR1 against a Colts pass defense that will be without CB Sauce Gardner (calf).

Unfortunately it’s not much of a surprise based on the reporting or the carting. Sam Roush will take over as Chicago’s TE2 and likely have fringe TE2 value. Kmet will be in the final year of his four-year, $50 million extension in 2027. The 28-year-old will be a potential cap casualty with a $15.425 million cap figure and $10 million in savings on release without getting into post-June 1 cap machinations.

Mason practiced in full all week. He seemingly has good odds of suiting up, but sometimes NFL teams will give players extra time off when they are returning from injured reserve. If Mason plays this weekend, he should be able to handle his normal lead-rushing role. In that case, he can be started as an RB2/FLEX.

Beck left Thursday’s practice with back spasms and was listed as a DNP. Head coach Mike LaFleur said he was not overly concerned with the injury and that he doesn’t believe it will be anything long-term. Beck’s injury shouldn’t change his Week 7 availability, as he has been the emergency QB3 all season.

Here’s what happened: Ravens head coach Jesse Minter spoke and said the team is still “working through” whether Jackson would play on Sunday, and then the team took the unusual step of having both Jackson and Tyler Huntley talk to the media. Jackson also said he doesn’t need to be 100% to play and clarified that he had a high-ankle sprain. There’s little doubt in our minds at this point that Jackson is headed for a questionable tag after a limited Friday session. Reading between the lines, the fact that Huntley spoke probably sets us up nicely for a rug pull, but Jackson-reliant fantasy managers will probably be waiting until inactives on Sunday before they know for sure.