NFL Player News

After tearing his ACL in Week 8 last season, Bourne will miss at least the first four weeks of the 2024 season. ESPN’s Mike Reiss said that in Bourne’s absence, the New England receiver depth chart could be as follows: K.J. Osborn, Pop Douglas, Tyquan Thornton, Ja’Lynn Polk, and Javon Baker. Osborn could see sneaky target volume as the WR1 in an offense that will be chasing points throughout the season.

Per Breer, CMC “just started feeling like himself again last week.” Breer also reports there have been “no flare ups or setbacks.” It sounds like this time it might count for McCaffrey’s return, though it might still be a long shot to see him in Week 7 against the Chiefs since he’s yet to get moving in earnest. It’s possible following the 49ers’ Week 9 ends up McCaffrey’s most likely return date.

Either Reddick’s agents are trying to absolve themselves of any blame for his holdout fiasco, or he really has been going against their advice this entire time. It’s possible the initial holdout was a team effort that has since morphed into Reddick against the world against the advice of his reps. Pot committed now, Reddick is going to need some better counsel to get out of this mess.

Kamara is rarely absent from the injury report. We have yet to see any reason to believe he will miss Sunday’s contest against the Bucs. Both Kamara’s floor and ceiling take a huge hit with Derek Carr giving way to rookie Spencer Rattler, but he is still going to see low-end RB1 usage.

The third-round rookie has missed back-to-back contests. With Trey Palmer battling a concussion, McMillan’s status has taken on increased importance. It is still going to be awfully difficult for McMillan to develop consistent WR4 value behind Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rachaad White and Cade Otton. We will probably know his Week 6 status by Friday, as this isn’t the kind of situation a team will take down to a game-time decision.

Uh oh. Mid-week downgrades are rarely good news, and we didn’t see anything to convince us to the contrary Thursday. This puts White at more doubtful than questionable to face the Saints, especially since Tampa will probably reckon they don’t need him to beat a team starting a rookie quarterback. Friday will tell the tale, but fantasy managers should be planning on alternatives this weekend. Bucky Irving would be a high-end RB2 in White’s absence.

It’s an “every little bit” counts for a banged-up Seahawks defense vs. an elite but struggling 49ers offense. Inactive for the ‘Hawks are CB Riq Woolen, LB Trevis Gipson, C Olu Oluwatiki, OG Sataoa Laumea, DT Byron Murphy II, WR Dareke Young and EDGE Myles Adams.

Ward’s short-week absence leaves the 49ers severely short-handed in the secondary, and turns into a big green light for underdog DK Metcalf and company. Ward seems merely day to day, but the quick turnaround was too much to overcome. We like his chances of being back for Week 7. Joining Ward on the shelf are TE Brayden Willis, LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, DL Jordan Elliott, K Jake Moody, OL Ben Bartch and QB Josh Dobbs.

It means Estime will be coming off injured reserve. What it does not necessarily mean is that he will be active Sunday, though we would expect so. The next question then becomes if he can muscle in on Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin’s workloads after Tyler Baide had begun to do before injuring his back. Williams and McLaughlin’s recent play and efficiency have improved, perhaps making it more difficult for fifth-round rookie Estime to get on the field. He’s only worth a flier in the most desperate of deeper-league RB situations.

This is the same ankle Herbert played through in Week 4. With the Chargers coming off a Week 5 bye, Herbert has had plenty of time to rest his ankle and should be good to go, barring any setbacks. He’ll need to be at the top of his game against a Broncos defense that has been among the league’s best this season. Herbert shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than a QB2 in fantasy this week.