NFL Player News

The team was awarded Jaelon Darden off waivers, prompting them to put Schwartz on injured reserve to get an extra roster spot. Darden was waived by the Bucs earlier this week. He will likely take over Schwartz’s role on special teams.

Not a great day in the rain, one that got worse when Judkins was spotted in the Browns’ locker room with his right foot in a walking boot. Boots are frequently precautionary, but they are always noteworthy. Also noteworthy is that Judkins finished the game without an injury announcement. Hopefully he’s just managing a little something ahead of Week 6 against the Ravens. If not, the Browns’ backfield is a mess behind Judkins, with Raheim Sanders and Jaleel McLaughlin the next backs up.

Everyone’s favorite breakout tight end is now sitting on an unseemly 110 yards receiving through five games played. It’s an inconceivable outcome after Loveland’s stretch-run and postseason dominance last season, but now very much a trend. Loveland’s “rates,” while good, just haven’t been good enough, and he is not compensating with the off-the-charts efficiency he would need to produce on that kind of usage, a la a Dalton Kincaid-type. It’s hard to throw in the TE1 towel since Loveland has only finished one game alongside QB Caleb Williams, but Williams’ likely Week 6 return against the Falcons could be something of a “last stand.” If Loveland can’t get it going with Williams back in the lineup, we might have to accept Loveland’s TE2 fate.

Although the Bears were already losing 31-7, Odunze’s fourth quarter giveaway was an ill-advised decision on a fourth down catch-and-run where he had already secured a new set of downs. Odunze seemed to be extending the ball forward. Unnecessary. Like every Bears pass catcher, Odunze is treading fantasy water waiting for the return of Caleb Williams (hamstring). It appears that will be Week 6 against the Falcons, but Odunze’s returns have been uneven enough that not even Williams’ re-insertion under center will be enough to get Odunze above the mid-range WR3 ranks.

Burden “led” the Bears in receiving, but the fact that 47 yards was the team’s high-water mark tells you all you need to know about their offensive effectiveness this afternoon. Today was actually the first time in three games without Caleb Williams that Burden finished under 60 yards receiving, but he is still in dire need of his starting quarterback’s return. It appears that will be Week 6 against the Falcons, keeping Burden in the low-end WR2 mix despite his lack of spiked weeks through the season’s first five contests.

Swift was the only Bear to find the end zone in a throwaway performance where Tyson Bagent was benched for the fourth quarter. It was still a disappointing statline with Kyle Monangai (toe) on the shelf, but there just wasn’t much Swift could do with Bagent failing to threaten the Packers’ defense and the Bears’ D struggling mightily. Swift also lost a ton of passing-game work and targets to fill-in No. 2 RB Roschon Johnson. That’s a potentially disturbing development heading into Week 6 against the Falcons, with or without Monangai in the lineup. Thankfully, Caleb Williams (hamstring) should be back, shoring up Swift’s value in the RB10-14 range.

Dulcich also added a two-point conversion to his total. It was a low-efficiency passing offense for the Dolphins once again, leading to Dulcich averaging under 10 yards per reception. The 26-year-old tight end is a fantasy TE3 as the Dolphins head into a Week 6 bye.

Shough had been coasting on extreme play volume over the first month of the fantasy season. Brian Flores and the Vikings’ hyper-aggressive defense had no issues shutting down that approach. The Saints had five drives in the first half. Only one lasted longer than three plays. Of their four second-half drives, two ended with interceptions. A fumbled kickoff coming out of the break didn’t help the team’s play volume either. Shough has ultimately been a better fantasy quarterback than a real-life passer this year and the Vikings’ defense exposed that truth for the better part of four quarters. He will look to rebound against a far worse Giants unit in Week 6.

Coleman was heavily involved in the Dolphins’ second-half gameplan, seeing the second-most targets among Miami pass-catchers on the day. He scored on a Malik Willis red zone pass in the fourth quarter and was tackled at the one-yard line on a reception towards the end of the game. Coleman is a fifth-round rookie and unlikely to see this much volume moving forward but is an intriguing deep-league stash in case Malik Washington were to suffer an injury.

The five-catch effort was Kraft’s second straight after previously having zero. His 54 yards were almost his most since Week 1. His 46-yard reception in the third quarter was his longest of the season. All of that is good, though it was still somewhat disappointing amidst a 367-yard Jordan Love outburst where Christian Watson and Matthew Golden both eased by 100 yards. Kraft is averaging a pedestrian six targets. He’s going to need both more looks and big plays to remain a higher-end TE1. It will nevertheless be impossible to bench him for Week 6 against the Cowboys’ shaky defense.

Bell was targeted just twice on the day, catching neither target. He did see a carry on an end-around play, rushing for 26 yards on his sole touch of the game. He has ramped up to a starting receiver’s workload of snaps, ranking second among Dolphins receivers with 41 snaps. Though Bell is the field more, he is yet to be a key part of the Dolphins offense and will see less opportunities once Caleb Douglas (ankle) returns. Bell is best left on fantasy benches when the Dolphins come out of their Week 6 bye.