NFL Player News

Mayfield had his leg tangled up in a tackle from Texans safety C. J. Gardner-Johnson on Monday. He appeared to be in serious pain, though that didn’t stop him from popping up to trash-talk the veteran defender. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported this morning that Mayfield did not undergo any testing after the game despite getting banged up. Mayfield should be good to go for his Week 3 date with the Jets. Even after a slow start for fantasy purposes, Mayfield will sit on the QB1/2 border for Week 3.

They also sent CB Kamal Hadden to IR after both Hadden and Riley suffered season-ending injuries against the Ravens in Week 17. Both players are at risk of missing time in training camp, if not spending time on the PUP list during the regular season.

Dean has been by far Tampa’s best cornerback this year, producing a 76.9 PFF coverage rating. It would be a big loss if he wasn’t able to go against the Panthers on Saturday. Dean left Week 17’s loss to the Dolphins in the third quarter and did not return.

Mayfield has been listed with a left shoulder injury previously, but pops up here with a right shoulder listing from the Buccaneers. We don’t doubt that Mayfield will play. We also don’t doubt that he’s clearly playing through injury at this point, as he has struggled since leaving Tampa’s Week 12 game against the Rams at halftime. Over his past five appearances he has just a 63 percent completion rate, 216.8 yards per game, and seven touchdowns against five interceptions.

So much for him re-appearing! In all honestly this isn’t a big deal, and the fact that reporters mistook him for practicing is probably still a good sign for his chances of suiting up in Week 18’s must-win against the Panthers. Most veteran offensive linemen are allowed to play with little practice, and as long as Wirfs finds the field on Wednesday or Thursday he should be considered likely to go.

In other words: If both GM Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon get fired, Cardinals ownership will leave the quarterback decision up to their new braintrust. Most rumors that we’ve seen leading up to Black Monday have had Ossenfort safe — he’d probably bring back Jacoby Brissett on the second year of a two-year deal and then draft a quarterback to either push or develop behind Brissett. But given how disappointing the Cardinals have been en route to falling from 2-0 to 3-13, we shouldn’t be surprised if Ossenfort doesn’t survive.

Panthers coach Dave Canales said he is “pretty confident” that Dowdle will be good to go on Saturday afternoon. It has not been uncommon for Dowdle to get an early practice off this year, so we don’t have much reason to worry about his status for Week 18’s NFC South showdown just yet.

Per Wilson, Mixon “got some procedures on his own, away from the Texans, not from the Texans medical personnel, and it apparently affected the foot, the blood flow, and progress turned into a stall.” The major takeaway is Wilson saying that “the reason there’s so much mystery about this is because Joe Mixon prefers it that way ... there was electromagnetic therapy that was done to try to reduce inflammation in the foot.” The easy outside assumption has been that the Texans will simply release Mixon after the season. It would be interesting to see if there were grievances if they did decide to toll his contract — the Texans did pay Mixon his full salary this year rather than coming after it. This update at least opens the door that Mixon could return to the Texans in 2026. Wilson repeated that Mixon will not return in the 2025 season, including the playoffs.

That’s not to necessarily Watt has a good chance given the reporting we’ve already had that he’s a long shot, and the qualifier “in recent weeks” is holding up the optimism. We think Watt has a chance to play, but he’ll probably have to start practicing in full by Thursday for Tomlin to confidently plug him in for the AFC North championship on Sunday night.

While the Cowboys have insisted that they’re playing their starters in Week 18, nothing in that guarantee says they’ll play most of the game. Javonte Williams (shoulder) left Week 17’s win over the Commanders, and Malik Davis is apparently also dealing with an eye injury. It’s possible that both start or get a limited runway and the Cowboys see what Blue can do, making Blue a Week 18 running back of interest. The fifth-round rookie hasn’t had a real role since October after a fumble against the Broncos.

The Buccaneers face a must-win game to keep their playoff hopes alive on Saturday afternoon. Wirfs missed last week’s game with this toe injury. The fact that he’s already practicing, even if this does wind up being a limited session, points to him playing. And the Buccaneers need every ounce of healthy talent they can get for this game given the way their late season has been going.