NFL Player News

The Chargers’ secondary entered Week 6 short-staffed and Leonard’s absence further complicates the matter. Bo Nix may be able to get the downfield passing game going.

The NFL determined that Pearce violated the league’s Personal Conduct Policy. He will be suspended without pay, but is allowed to participate in all preseason activities, including games. The suspension begins on August 30th, and he will be eligible for reinstatement on November 2nd. The Falcons go on bye in Week 11, so Week 9 marks his earliest possible return to the field. Pearce was arrested in February and initially charged with three felonies and one misdemeanor, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police, and resisting an officer with violence to his or her person.

Rapoport adds that Stribling’s “ability to catch basically everything has impressed.” The second-round rookie has soared since draft season. Once discussed as some film analysts’ preferred Day 1/2 options, Stribling now projects as a potentially reliable starter in the 49ers’ banged-up pass-catching corps.

This comes from The News Tribune’s Gregg Bell, who may be correcting the record on Price’s ailment. Price’s soreness has variously been reported as lower-body soreness, leg soreness, upper-body soreness and now upper-leg soreness. The young man has certainly been sore, and the upper-body report is not like the others. A leg issue is seemingly the most likely answer. Regardless, the Seahawks play their first preseason game tomorrow. Bell previously said it “doesn’t sound like” Price will be active, and today he emphasized that this was just a “light” walkthrough. If Price suits up, we might gain a little insight into the Seahawks’ intended running back rotation. If not, we will have to wait until the following week.

According to Moore, this is not related to the previous hamstring injuries Tyson has dealt with, and the team is gathering more information before determining a recovery timeline. Moore also said the possibility of Tyson missing Week 1 can’t be ruled out. It’s not exactly encouraging news, but we’re holding out hope that, at worst, this is a short-term absence for Tyson, whose pre-draft process was hampered by hamstring injuries. Tyson profiles as a decent WR3 play in fantasy if/when he is on the field this season.

Thornton has missed nearly a whole week of practice, paving the way for Jack Bech and rookie Malik Benson to see more reps. Kubiak said Thornton has “been banged up a little bit” this training camp, but did not go into further detail on his situation. Thornton caught 10 passes for 135 scoreless yards last season after generating plenty of camp hype. He is not on the fantasy radar at this time.

Kubiak didn’t come right out and say Mendoza could see more first-team reps, but it feels like things are trending that way. His response came after he was asked if Mendoza specifically deserved more first-team reps after a nice outing in his first taste of preseason action, to which Kubiak said the team will put together a plan to ensure all three QBs get first-team reps, which feels somewhat evasive and unrealistic, given that we know career backup Aidan O’Connell isn’t contending for a starting job in camp. Kubiak went on record after Thursday’s game, saying that the battle for QB1 remains Kirk Cousins’ to lose. It wouldn’t be surprising if Mendoza did see more first-team reps in the coming days, but we would be surprised if O’Connell began working in with the first team. That said, it will be worth monitoring Mendoza’s first-team reps going forward, as he could still push Cousins for the starting role before Week 1.

LaFleur said Beck would have been well enough to throw if it were seven-on-seven drills, adding that the team “didn’t want to risk it” when it came to starting the rookie in Thursday’s preseason game. Beck already has some preseason experience under his belt. He threw for 188 yards and a touchdown in the Hall of Fame Game last week against the Panthers and will hopefully have a chance to suit up in next week’s preseason game against the Cowboys on Saturday.

Cousins played on just one drive in Thursday’s loss. He went 5-for-6 on his pass attempts and capped his lone drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Michael Mayer. Rookie Fernando Mendoza, who looked sharp at times in his debut, is still positioned to open the season as Cousins’ backup, as Kubiak reasserted his decision to open the year with Cousins as the starter as of right now. Cousins has worked primarily with the starters in training camp and has received mostly good reports. It seems highly unlikely he would lose the starting job before Week 1’s game against the Dolphins.

Richardson’s interception came on a play in which the ball bounced off his receiver’s hands and into a defender’s arms. The former No. 4 overall pick was mostly solid on Thursday, making quick and decisive throws to his receivers while going a perfect 6-for-6 on pass attempts of 10-plus air yards. Richardson also lost a fumble on a 10-yard scramble in the second quarter, but made up for it later on a one-yard touchdown run on a QB sneak. His days as a Colt are likely numbered. Richardson stringing together a nice preseason could draw the interest of several QB-needy teams before the start of the season and position him to eventually see the field sometime in 2026.