NFL Player News

The Senior Bowl standout boosted his stock at every step of the pre-Draft process, also posting an 8.65 RAS at the Combine. His 3-cone time in the 91st-percentile reflects his lacrosse background, while the explosion indicated by his 85th-percentile Broad Jump is apparent in his play. While amassing 60 tackles in his final two seasons in Madison, Benton showed great ability to anchor in the middle of a stout Badger defense. He has a great punch that knocks many offensive linemen off their spots while his chops and rips have martial art precision. Despite not being put in a position to put up multiple sacks, he still ended up with six sacks in his junior and senior seasons, resulting in All-B1G honors. The biggest problem with Benton is his tendency to play with a high pad level thus losing his anchor. He’ll join a Steelers defense with a rush defense graded by PFF as last season’s tenth best.

His one miss was a blocked 50-yarder by Calais Campbell. The Texans have continued to generate plenty of attempts for Fairbairn with their combination of solid regular offense and horrendous red-zone offense. He’ll remain high in the kicker ranks next week against the Raiders.

Higgins played 42-of-62 snaps for the Cardinals on offense and watched Trey McBride catch a lot of targets. We salute his selflessness.

Monangai had led the Bears in rushes in three consecutive games, but the 23-year-old rookie running back took a backseat to D’Andre Swift in Week 15 against the Browns. He had 11 carries and just 33 yards while being held without a catch on two targets. Monangai managers had to watch while Swift exploded for 98 yards and two touchdowns. He’ll be more of an RB3 in a tough matchup against the Packers in Week 16.

Tinsley saw a season-high nine targets in Week 12 when playing in place of Tee Higgins (concussion). With Higgins sidelined again due to another brain injury this week, Tinsley was unable to replicate his target volume, with only two looks coming his way in the shutout loss. Tinsley hauled in a 16-yard reception in the fourth quarter, and just missed hauling in a pass in the end zone on that same drive a few plays later. Assuming Higgins is able to return in Week 16 against the Dolphins, Tinsley will go back into his backup role.

Uh, yeah. That’s Arizona Cardinals WR2 Jalen Brooks, the former Cowboys 2023 seventh-round pick. Brooks played 43-of-62 snaps. The target tree in Arizona is narrow enough that Brooks still retains no fantasy value even if the seas have parted to allow him this opportunity.

He was 1-of-4 four six yards at halftime, and Jacoby Brissett’s lone interception came targeting him in the red zone in the third quarter. But he made a sensational sideline catch in the end zone with Kamari Lassiter draped all over him to avoid an ugly dud in your fantasy box score. Wilson will slide back down to WR3 next week if Marvin Harrison Jr. returns, but otherwise he can be fired up as a high-end WR2 with confidence against the Falcons.

Pacheco was as inefficient as ever, averaging a meager 1.9 yards while Kareem Hunt had 12 yards on six carries in the NFL’s worst backfield. He was bottled up time and again in short yardage situations and slow to get to the edge against LA defenders. Pacheco logged 18 routes to 22 pass routes for Hunt. Pacheco, who has more than nine carries in just five games this season, won’t be playable in fantasy next week against the Titans.

You wouldn’t have expected the first three-score game of Etienne’s career to feature zero on the ground, but that’s what happened on Sunday in Jacksonville. This was somehow after Bhayshul Tuten notched the Jags backfield’s first receiving score, and after they already led 24-10 in the dying moments of the second quarter. Etienne found the end zone from 20, eight and 45 yards out, with the 45-yarder a screen where Etienne found the sideline. The 20-yarder was a Trevor Lawrence dime at the goal line. Although he’s been providing better fantasy returns of late, Etienne has bettered 4.0 yards per carry just one time in seven games since the Jags’ bye week. The offense’s recent improvement will be put to the toughest of tests in a Week 16 road trip to Denver. Etienne will remain a usage-based RB2 for that one.

He was unstoppable from the jump, taking underneath screens and running over Texans defenders as the Cardinals kept things conservative against Houston’s defensive line. He’s only the second receiver to score more than 20 PPR fantasy points against the Texans all season, after Jaxson Smith-Njigba did it in Week 7. McBride and Jacoby Brissett may not be winning (m)any games, but they are a fantasy bonfire that can’t be contained. McBride will be an easy TE1 overall against the Falcons in Week 16.