NFL Player News

Mattison left the field under his own power in Sunday’s game, and it was reported after the game that the veteran running back had suffered a neck injury. We now know that Mattison was taken by ambulance to the hospital after the injury and underwent surgery the same day. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports Mattison had a full range of motion, but he will now land on season-ending injured reserve after reportedly carving out a role for himself in camp. It’s a tough end to the season for a player who was hoping to bounce back following a disappointing 2024 season with the Raiders.

In a bit of a sourceoff, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport would only report that surgery is on the table, not that Hendrickson is “set to undergo” the surgery. Either way, undergoing the surgery would knock Hendrickson out for approximately six weeks, meaning his season would be over barring a miracle Bengals playoff appearance. It does feel like we’ve seen the last of Hendrickson for 2025, and it would appear that he’ll enter free agency unless the Bengals franchise tag him.

Quinn then deftly declined to say if Daniels would play on Sunday. Never a good sign when the coach won’t even offer a comment on the plausibility of that happening on Monday. Marcus Mariota could be in for a smash streaming spot against a left-for-dead Giants defense in Week 15. We’re sure this is the first of many Daniels blurbs this week either way.

At a minimum, this is a season-ending injury for Ertz. At worst, it’s a career-ending injury for the 35-year-old tight end who has played 13 seasons and now suffered two devastating knee injuries in his career. Ertz re-upped with the Commanders on a one-year, $6.25 million deal this offseason after a bounce-back 2024 campaign in which he went for 66-654-7. Ertz continued to be a reliable safety blanket in the passing game for the 3-10 Commanders, posting a steady 5-504-4 line this season while going for 50-plus yards in three games. He’ll enter 2026 as a free agent, and may need to prove he’s fully healed in the offseason before signing a one-year contract with the Commanders or another team.

Taylor told reporters that Higgins — who was checked multiple times after a couple major hits on Sunday — reported symptoms after the game. Given the quick turnaround from his last concussion, it would be surprising if Higgins managed to play this week. It looks like Andrei Iosivas and Mitchell Tinsley, as well as Mike Gesicki, will be solidly on the 12-team radar for Week 15.

Always good to get that out of the way early. Hendrickson hasn’t played since October 26 and per Taylor will visit a specialist. We’d be surprised if we see Hendrickson again this season barring a miracle Bengals playoff run.

Hopkins has run nine or fewer routes in five games this season, and tied a season-low in Week 14’s loss to the Steelers when he ran a whole seven routes. It would seem that more snaps and routes would go a long way in getting Hopkins more involved with the offense, but we can’t be too sure. Hopkins hasn’t seen more than four targets in any game this season, and last topped 50 yards in Week 2. The Ravens have a Week 15 game against the Bengals on tap in what is effectively an elimination game. We’ll see if the Ravens actually get Hopkins more involved, or if this is another meaningless coach quote that falls by the wayside.

Being suspended for this week’s game was the last straw for Burton, who can have the final two years and change of his rookie deal claimed off waivers if any other team is amenable to it. We’d doubt that happens based on how prolonged the turmoil of his off-field habits remained a story in Cincinnati. (It has to be pretty bad to be a constant story in Cincinnati.) Burton ends his Bengals career with four catches for 107 yards on 14 targets, none of which happened this season as he fell behind Mitchell Tinsley.

We’d be surprised if London practiced today based on this quote, but the Falcons don’t need to release the injury report yet. With a Thursday game coming to lead off Week 15, London will get some star-level benefit of the doubt if he’s anywhere close, but the inability to even practice since suffering the injury leads us to believe he starts the week on the pessimistic side of questionable.

“From the sounds of it,” Indy Star’s Joel A. Erickson reports, “Richardson hasn’t been cleared to return yet.” It’s possible based on this update that Richardson could play later in the season for those of you looking to superflex stash a rushing quarterback. But there’s obviously no guarantee that he’ll return at this point.