NFL Player News

Gifford will be a depth piece for the linebacking corps, but where he’s excelled over the last couple of years is on special teams. He’ll help improve that unit while backing up the inside backers on the 49ers’ defense.

Tyrone Tracy appeared to do the most with his opportunities last week, scoring the game’s only two touchdowns. Najee Harris was bottled up and Cam Skattebo was soft benched while Devin Singletary led the team in snaps while they were in comeback mode for most of the second half. By the letter of what he’s offering here, Tracy is probably the player who should get the majority of the snaps against the Texans. In actuality, we have no idea what will happen here and this quote doesn’t really help us. “I don’t like (rotating backs) either,” Harbaugh said per The Athletic’s Dan Duggan after the game. “One of those guys needs to step up. Somebody needs to step up and be the back. And none of those guys have done that yet.” We suspect we’ll be diving beat writer opinions ahead of Sunday.

Mannion is in his first year as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator and has struggled to turn around an offense that ranked 19th in scoring and 24th in total yards last season. The loss of Jalen Hurts (blood clots) will only further complicate life for Mannion and the Eagles, who rank 28th in points scored through six games this season. While Sirianni did say “everything’s on the table” to fix the offense, it doesn’t sound like any dramatic changes are coming just yet.

The 31-year-old will be the latest veteran-as-practice-squadder bit corner in Buffalo’s beleaguered room. He has a storied history with the organization and is clearly still a very smart player.

The fact that he has to think about it probably tips the hand that it will be J.J. McCarthy sooner or later — if not outright now. Jameis Winston was replaced by McCarthy in the fourth quarter yesterday and McCarthy showcased his deep arm and almost erased a large deficit by throwing for 243 yards on 21 attempts. If McCarthy did start against the Texans, he would likely be a bottom five superflex option on the Week 7 slate because of his established history as a starter.

He’ll miss at least the next four weeks. The Rams will reshuffle the kicker deck again in Week 7, keep refreshing the page over the next few days to learn who it will be.

Dell will make his long-awaited return next week against the Giants. By the time he takes the field in Week 7, Dell will have been more than 22 months removed from his last regular-season game, which came in Week 16 of the 2024 season. Dell suffered a torn ACL, LCL, and MCL, along with a dislocated knee, in that game against the Chiefs and has been on a long road to recovery. He’ll join a crowded receiver room that recently acquired Marvin Harrison Jr., and Jaylin Noel has posted a solid 17-334-2 line through the first six weeks of the season and topped 100 yards in Sunday’s win over the Jaguars. Targets could be hard to come by for Dell, but his return next week is an impressive feat on its own given the injury he had to work through.

Evans did not log a practice in the days leading up to Monday night’s game against the Commanders, but the team still listed him as questionable on Saturday. Schefter reports the Niners want to see how Evans looks during pregame warmups, but it sounds like they are somewhat hopeful he will be active for Monday’s game. Evans has caught 24 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns this season and went for 7-113-1 on 10 targets in last week’s win over the Seahawks. He would be a must-start on Monday against Washington if he is active.

Sounds like another week of managed reps in practice is ahead for Bateman, but he’ll likely have a reasonable chance to suit up in Week 7.

When asked if Jackson’s ankle has improved over the last two weeks, Minter offered up a resounding “yes.” Jackson missed a second straight game in Week 6’s loss to the Browns, despite reports earlier in the week that said he nearly played in Week 5 against the Falcons. We’ve seen injuries linger in the past for Jackson, whose team fell to 4-2 on the season and is now preparing to face another division rival in the Bengals next week. Jackson, who is considered day-to-day, did not get on the practice field in any capacity last week, so even a few limited sessions would be an upgrade as far as his Week 7 availability is concerned.

Lewis connects the Vikings to Chargers backs Keaton Mitchell and Kimani Vidal as well as Tennessee’s Tony Pollard, Tampa Bay’s Kenneth Gainwell, and Arizona’s Tyler Allgeier. These are just whispers at the moment, but any kind of costly trade acquisition would cut into the playing time and fantasy value of Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones. The Vikings have clearly already been shuffling depth pieces around so we believe there could be more urgency there as the trade deadline gets closer.