NFL Player News

He’ll miss at least the first four weeks of the season. Cosmi was lightly involved in training camp after tearing his ACL in the Divisional Round, but it was never realistic that he’d be available for Week 1. It wouldn’t be surprising if he spent more than four weeks on the PUP list. The Commanders will go forward with Nick Allegretti at guard.

It’s hard to imagine either Vaki or Saylors having meaningful fantasy value at this point in the season, but it sounds like both will be on the field while Isiah Pacheco (back) is sidelined for at least the first four games of the season. Judging by how Campbell sounded when discussing each player, it sounded like Saylors might be closer to the official RB2, but Campbell didn’t mince words when he said, “I see Vaki getting some reps, too.” Fantasy managers interested in taking a shot on a Lions running back not named Jahmyr Gibbs can consider both Saylors and Vaki as late-round dart throws until we see how their snap shares look in the coming weeks.

Egbuka was working with trainers last week, but was on the field with the team on Monday. The Buccaneers won’t release their first official injury report until Wednesday, but it sounds like Egbuka is trending in the right direction ahead of the Buccaneers’ Week 1 game against the Bengals. Egbuka has been dealing with this toe injury since mid-August, but it seems like the Bucs have slowly ramped him up as of late. His practice status will be one to monitor when the first injury report drops. In addition to Egbuka, WR Jalen McMillan and OT Justin Skule were also practicing, while RB Sean Tucker was not seen on the field.

Waller looked “big and fast” in Monday practice, per head coach Dave Canales, and reportedly hit 20 MPH on one of his routes. The veteran tight end was seen catching passes from Bryce Young and could have a chance to suit up for the Panthers’ Week 1 game against the Bears. It’s still too early to know how significant a role Waller will have in Canales’ offense, but he could have some fantasy viability as a streaming option in what is a very thin tight end room in Carolina.

Rapp will start the season on the Broncos’ practice squad after being released by the team last week. With 72 career starts under his belt, Rapp should have a chance to work his way onto the Broncos’ 53-man roster at some point this season and could serve as valuable depth for one of the league’s best defenses. Rapp totaled 26 tackles in six games for the Bills last season before a knee injury prematurely ended his season.

Jefferson spent all offseason with the Commanders but found himself on the outside looking in when camp cuts came around. The 30-year-old receiver caught 29 passes for 350 yards and one touchdown last season with the Titans and has bounced around the league over the last four seasons. He could be an injury away from being promoted to the 53-man roster, but we wouldn’t expect him to offer much fantasy production even if he is active on game day.

Head coach Dave Canales declined to provide an update on Brooks’ status Monday after saying last week that he was “very optimistic” that Brooks would play in Week 1 against the Bears. The Panthers won’t release their first official injury report until Wednesday, which should give us a better idea of where things stand for Brooks in the season opener. The 23-year-old back has had a strong training camp and is expected to split work with Chuba Hubbard if active. Both RBs should be viewed in the RB3 range for Week 1 if active.

Henderson has missed multiple weeks of practice since sustaining an ankle injury on August 24. After being a DNP on Sunday, Henderson missing Monday’s practice would be a bad sign for his availability for Wednesday’s season opener against the Seahawks. The Patriots will take the field later in the day, so we should have an update soon on whether or not he’s with the team. If he’s unable to play on Wednesday, Rhamondre Stevenson would be in line to handle a significant workload against a stout Seahawks defense.

Veteran QB Cooper Rush will serve as the Falcons’ QB2 in the season opener. Speaking on Monday with the media, Stefanski declined to put a timeline on when Penix could be ready to take the field, instead saying he is “very confident in the plan” they have for the 26-year-old QB. Earlier, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Falcons wanted to give Penix “a couple more weeks” to prepare for the season, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we are a few weeks away from him dressing for game days.

This is an encouraging piece of news from Evans, who dealt with a quad injury and an abductor injury during training camp. According to the 33-year-old vet, none of the injuries he was dealing with would have resulted in him missing game time, which should give fantasy managers a boost of confidence entering this season. Evans signed a three-year contract with the 49ers this offseason and is coming off a year in which he was limited to just eight games due to a hamstring injury and a broken clavicle. Evans is expected to serve as the Niners’ WR1 this season and profiles as a high-upside WR2 in fantasy who should provide plenty of big weeks this season.

Penix was cleared to participate in 11-on-11s back on August 22 and hasn’t logged much practice in camp. As a result, Tua Tagovailoa has been named the starter for the Falcons to kick off Week 1 against the Steelers, buying Penix some additional time to get practice reps and get his knee right before being put in game situations. Rapoport said the Falcons hope to give Penix “a couple more weeks” before playing him, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we saw Tua under center for the first few games of the season before the Falcons consider a switch at the position. Tagovailoa struggled in camp and throughout the preseason and is expected to be on a short leash once Penix is ready to go.