NFL Player News

The second-year first-round pick out of Georgia evidently played through the injury in the second half. He went under the knife Wednesday and is expected to be ready for Week 1. More than likely, he will be good to go for training camp. 2024 was a nice leap for Smith after he made zero rookie starts. He played roughly 70 percent of the Eagles’ snaps and tallied 6.5 sacks. That does not include the four QB takedowns he logged during the postseason. Heading into his age-24 campaign, Smith could make another big leap.

Taylor missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday, so this news doesn’t come as much of a surprise. With Justin Fields (knee) also ruled out, rookie UDFA Brady Cook will make his first career start in Week 15 against the Jaguars. Adrian Martinez will serve as his backup.

Things have been trending in this direction all week. Cook, who replaced Tyrod Taylor (groin) early in Week 14’s loss to the Dolphins, will now make his first career start on the road against an 11th-ranked Jaguars defense. Cook threw for 163-0-2 in his first taste of NFL action last week while completing just 46.7 percent of his passes. Despite the Jaguars being one the the premier pass-funnel defenses in the league this season, Cook can be avoided in all fantasy formats. Fantasy managers hoping for some production from Adonai Mitchell may also want to consider looking elsewhere in Week 15.

The Dolphins won’t release their final injury report until Saturday, but Smith said on Friday that he didn’t “see anything that’s going to hold [Achane] back” from playing in Week 15. Head coach Mike McDaniel said after Week 14’s win against the Jets that Achane could have returned in an emergency situation, and Achane was limited in Thursday’s practice. We’ll check back in when Achane’s official status is announced on Saturday, but he’s clearly trending in the right direction for Monday night’s game against the Steelers, where he will be locked in as an RB1.

Fantasy managers rostering Omarion Hampton and Kimani Vidal take note. Hampton was out-snapped by Vidal 51 to 23 in his return from an ankle injury, but saw more even opportunity splits. Hampton earned 15 looks to Vidal’s 17 in Week 14’s win over the Eagles, and found himself on the receiving end of a four-yard touchdown on the Chargers’ opening drive. Hampton’s workload should continue to ramp up in the coming weeks, but when asked about backfield touches on Thursday, Roman noted the “hot hand” three times in his response. Both Hampton and Vidal will be in play for fantasy managers in Week 15 against the Chiefs, with Hampton getting the edge as the more likely goal-line option.

With extra time to heal up after getting concussed in a Thursday night matchup against the Lions, Lamb is now good to go in a pivotal Week 15 game against the Vikings. Lamb turned in arguably his best performance of the season before going down last week, totaling six catches for a season-high 121 yards in just one half of play. He can be trusted as a WR1 in this week’s fantasy playoff matchups.

Myers signed a one-year deal with the Jets this offseason and has started all 13 games for them. Myers has played on 803 offensive snaps while earning a PFF offensive grade of 53.6. With Myers’ extension, the Jets now have four of their five offensive starters under contract for next season.

Watt was hospitalized with a lung issue on Wednesday and was unsurprisingly listed as a DNP on Thursday. He’ll have some extra time to get ready ahead of Monday night’s matchup against the Dolphins, but given the nature of the injury, this may not be something Watt can “tough it out” to play through. With two days of practice left to go, we’ll continue to monitor his status throughout the week, but the Steelers could be down their top defensive player in a pivotal Week 15 matchup.

Gonzalez also connected on all of of his extra-point attempts. His 43-yarder with no time remaining just snuck inside of the post to give Atlanta the win. On the year, Gonzalez has made 11 of his 13 attempts, and he’s perfect on all 11 PATs. He’ll square off against the Cardinals in Week 16.

With Cade Otton (knee) unavailable, it was Culp who scored the first touchdown of the season for a Tampa Bay tight end. It’s reasonable to wonder if it’ll be the last. Culp has impressive athleticism, but is miles and miles away from fantasy relevancy at this stage of his career.

McMillan came mere inches short of turning his first catch of 2025 into a touchdown, but instant replay deemed him to be down inside of the one yard line. The second-year wideout has missed the entirety of the campaign prior to Thursday due to a neck issue, and while there are a lot of bodies to feed in the Tampa Bay offense, it’s worth keeping in mind that McMillan was a significant part of the passing attack in 2025 as a rookie. Still, it’s hard to see him being a fantasy option for the remainder of 2025, and there’s more risk than reward for Week 16 against the Panthers.