NFL Player News

While Barkley didn’t do a lot at practice on Tuesday, the Giants just had a walk through. Afterwards, Daboll was asked about Barkley’s status and said, “He’s really now, I’d say, in the day-to-day category. Feels a lot better today. But we’ll kind of take that all the way throughout the week and see how he improves.” Obviously, Barkley feeling better is a good sign, but there is still a ways to go before he gets back out on the field on Monday night against Seattle. With the Giants sitting at 1-2, they may be inclined to play their star if he’s close, so this is certainly a situation to monitor closely over the next few days.

It would’ve been a quiet day for Sutton if not for a 46-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Sutton battled through pass interference in the end zone to make a one-handed catch to give him his 10th touchdown of the season. Sutton’s score marks the first time since 2014 that the Broncos have had a pass-catcher with 10-plus scores (Julius Thomas and Demaryius Thomas), as he’s now up to 53-699-10 on the year. Sutton has caught four or fewer passes in each of his last four games, but his touchdown upside will put him on the WR3 radar in Week 15 against the Lions.

With as good as the Chiefs’ secondary has been this year, the Bills came into the game with a clear gameplan to get the ball to James Cook often in the early going. His receiving touchdown in the first half was a beautifully designed play that used motion to draw the Chiefs’ safeties to the sideline and then released Cook up the middle on a seam route. When the Bills came out in the second half and looked to establish the ground game, Cook ripped off huge chunk plays. Yet, the offensive line started to lose the battle up front for the remainder of the game, and the Bills continued to mix in Latavius Murray and Ty Johnson to grind out the clock on the final drives, which put a damper on Cook’s big day. Still, he remains an explosive playmaker and now a clear priority in the Bills’ offense under new offensive coordinator Joe Brady. That makes him a low-end RB1 going forward.

The Bills made Mahomes work for it on Sunday, doing everything they could to force Mahomes to use his wide receivers to win the game. Yet, Mahomes continued to lift his offense as he has all season, evading pressure in the backfield, and making throws that only he and the quarterback going up against him on Sunday could make. However, the weapons may simply not be there this season for Mahomes to be a top tier QB1 like we’re used to. The Chiefs have yet to find a consistent passing weapon aside from Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice, and the running game takes a big hit with Isiah Pacheco sidelined. Fortunately for both Mahomes and the Chiefs, they get a very winnable matchup against the Patriots next week.

Hockenson’s 22.9 percent target share led the team, though it didn’t mean much with Josh Dobbs struggling to make even the simplest throws before being benched for Nick Mullens in the fourth quarter. Hockenson made a couple critical catches down the stretch and would seem to benefit big time from Mullens under center. If Justin Jefferson misses time with a chest injury, Hockenson could return to a target-hog fantasy option in Week 15 and beyond.

As NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport points out, given where we are at this point in the season, it’s possible this finger fracture will be a season-ender for Herbert. Staley said Herbert’s status will be determined over the next few days, but he’s all but a lock to miss Week 15 against the Raiders on Thursday night. Easton Stick will likely draw the start with Herbert sidelined, as the Chargers (5-8) are simply playing out the rest of a disappointing season. Stick is a massive downgrade for the Chargers at the quarterback position and would undoubtedly hurt Keenan Allen’s fantasy stock.

In what has become a consistent trend for Josh Allen this season, he looked unstoppable at times and made plays no other quarterback can make; however, he also made a costly mistake on the interception and led an offense that simply stalled for far too long. Allen came out of the gates on fire, driving the Bills down the field and even converting a touchdown with his legs while pushing a pile of defenders en route to building a 14-0 lead. He also made a ridiculous throw in the fourth quarter while backpedaling out of bounds. However, the Chiefs defense prevented any big plays and started to ramp up their pressure in the second half, which caused Allen to hold the ball too long and try to do too much. Still, Allen made enough plays at the end of the day and now that he’s running more again, he remains one of, if not the top quarterback in fantasy.

Samuel has been on a tear since returning from injury and today was no different. He seemed to take some of the soul from the Seahawks when he ran past Jamal Adams on his way to a 54-yard touchdown reception. While he wasn’t involved much as rusher, he ran in a one-yard touchdown on his only carry after being stopped right before the goal line. Samuel is looking like he’s a WR1 again in fantasy.

Head coach Brandon Staley stuck to his word, playing all three of his running backs in the defeat. With that said, Ekeler still led the team with 10 rush attempts, while Joshua Kelley and Isaiah Spiller combined to rush nine times for 25 yards. Ekeler was better in this one, averaging 6.7 yards per touch while scoring the Chargers’ lone touchdown on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter. Barring an unexpected turn of events, Ekeler should continue to lead the Chargers’ backfield, although he’ll be hard to project as anything more than a volume-based RB2, given his lack of efficiency. Fantasy managers can continue to start him in Week 15 against the Raiders.

Hudson nabbed his first career touchdown on an 11-yard strike to open the second half. It was one of just two catches on the day for the journeyman tight end, but a touchdown alone is enough to put any tight end in the TE2 range given the bleak state of the position. His meager target share will keep him ranked among the TE2s for Week 15, though there are worse streaming options to be had this late in the season.

Addison has seen at least seven targets in seven straight outings before Minnesota’s disastrous offensive performance against Vegas. His three targets were well behind team leader T.J. Hockenson (8). Justin Jefferson’s first half exit didn’t help the rookie much, as Josh Dobbs struggled to make even the most basic throws. Nick Mullens, who took over for Dobbs in the fourth quarter, would be an upgrade for Addison’s fantasy outlook in Week 15 against the Bengals. Still, Addison will be a boom-bust WR3 option.