NFL Player News

Chambers (6’1/226), a former four-star recruit at running black out of Blessed Trinity Catholic HS, made the switch to defense in 2021. Through three years the Ohio State standout has split time at MLB, WLB, and LILB, showcasing his impressive versatility. After posting 83 total tackles and 36 stops in 2023, Chambers earned Third Team All-Big Ten and elected to enter the draft with a year of eligibility remaining. The fifth year senior got a late start in his development as a linebacker, but it does not show on tape. He reads the run well and is often the first hat to the ball when he is able to avoid being sucked into blocks. Chambers is a wrap up tackler, as reflected in his 9.7% missed tackle rate, with his 55.5 run-defense grade reflecting a relative lack of play strength. Once engaged with a lineman or tight end, he is frequently unable to shed and get hands on the ball carrier. Where he excels is in pass defense. The linebacker intercepted four passes throughout his three seasons at linebacker, boasting a 77.4 PFF grade in coverage.

This leaves RB Audric Estime as the nominal starter, though TE Taysom Hill logged 16 touches to Estime’s eight last week. The Saints apparently wanted to feature Hill in Week 16, in what could be his final home game as a Saint. Projecting each player’s Week 17 role is difficult. Neither one should be considered a confident play, though the Titans’ defense is unimposing.

It’s a sneaky-big loss as Thomas is the Giants best offensive lineman by far. The Giants also have John Michael Schmitz (finger) listed as doubtful for the contest. It lowers the floor for Jaxson Dart in what should, in theory, be a smash start against the Raiders.

He was limited in practice today, despite not being seen by reporters in the media access portion of the session. Olave has been listed with this back issue before and has said this week that he had “similar back issues dating back to high school.” We’d consider him on the optimistic side of questionable, but it’s never great to have a Friday downgrade on the injury report.

Burden was limited on Wednesday and Thursday, and encouragingly upgraded to full participation on Friday. The rookie wide receiver earned 6-7 targets in each of his last three games. He is a decent bet to stay in that range against the 49ers this week, putting him squarely on the FLEX radar.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters earlier this week that Odunze is “going to be able to help us this year.” Unfortunately, that will not be the case this week. The 23-year-old wide receiver will now miss his fourth straight game, having aggravated the stress fracture in his foot during pre-game warmups in Week 15.

Stingley will be available for the Texans’ game against the Chargers on Saturday. The Texans (10-5) are in the playoff hunt, while the Chargers (11-4) have already secured a spot, though like the Texans, they sit in second place in their division. The Texans’ perimeter cornerback ties for eighth at the position in pass breakups (nine) and ties for third in interceptions (four).

Knox got two DNPs early in the week and came back with a limited session on Friday. It’s his first week with the injury so it’s hard to set expectations entirely, but this is typically the practice pattern of a player who would be on the pessimistic side of questionable in Week 17. It could be Jackson Hawes szn for Buffalo against the Eagles.

This is good news for the Texans’ offense. Brown’s 68.6 PFF offense grade ranks second among the Texans’ offensive line starters. Brown will help fend off the Chargers’ talented front-seven defenders as the Texans seek to secure a postseason appearance.

Kincaid finally got in a limited practice today after two DNPs — this has been his normal of late — and despite the high-scoring potential of a Bills-Eagles game it’s going to be hard to trust a clearly-playing-through-it Kincaid after a one-target bagel in Week 16. The tight end stream room is busy right now, especially after Brock Bowers went on IR, but you can probably do better than Kincaid.

Breer notes that the Falcons have brought in consulting firm Sportology to evaluate the in-house operations. We’re not getting many leaks on the ground out of Atlanta, but it’d be somewhat surprising if GM Terry Fontenot survived this latest failure after trading his 2026 first-round pick for rookie EDGE James Pearce, especially now that the team’s quarterback situation looks fully unsettled going forward after Michael Penix’s ACL tear. Raheem Morris is only in his second season on the job and may have more rope than Fontenot on account of that.